


Married at First Sight

by The Muse of Apollo (mtwb)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: AU, Angst (just a bit), Blind Marriage, F/M, Fluffy, Impulsive Harry, Impulsive Hermione, Love at First Sight, Marriage, TV Show, married at first sight, no magic, there will be smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-26
Updated: 2020-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-28 22:08:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 25,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23334373
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mtwb/pseuds/The%20Muse%20of%20Apollo
Summary: Two people, who have never met before, and don't even know each other's names, agree to get married in front of a nationally televised audience. What the hell were Harry and Hermione thinking? HHR. Mostly fluff. Muggle AU.
Relationships: Harry Potter/Nymphadora Tonks (past), Hermione Granger/Harry Potter, Hermione Granger/OC (past), Sirius Black/Remus Lupin
Comments: 73
Kudos: 145





	1. Down the Aisle

**Author's Note:**

> a.n. So this is based on a prompt from the Harmony & Co prompt blog. “Married at first sight AU.” It’s one I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and now I’m doing it. This is completely AU. No magic either. Also, I’ve not seen the show this is based on, so the version in this story is completely from my own mind. Finally, this is OOC. Hermione isn’t this impulsive, but we’ll go with it anyways.  
> Thank you to autumnmariefifa who did the wonderful artwork for this story. Thanks to StruggleMuggle for looking this over.  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter. I’m broke, can’t afford it.

Hermione couldn’t believe she was doing this. It wasn’t something she would normally do. Hell, it wasn’t something anyone would normally do! How she had let Ginny talk her into it, she wasn’t sure. But here she was, sitting in a small room, letting a stranger do her hair while she waited to be on a TV show where she would be married to some strange man! What the hell had she been thinking?

Oh, right. She hadn’t been thinking. She’d been heartbroken over Nick’s betrayal and had been moping through life for months, hoping that her love would come back to her. But that was dumb, and she knew it, and she was doing fine! But Ginny had told her that she needed to live some and do something spontaneous.

The TV show wasn’t something that Hermione had ever even heard of before Ginny had signed her up. _Married at First Sight_ was a hit, and everyone loved it. Hermione had watched several episodes after Ginny had forced her to send in her application. It was...an interesting show. Not something that she would really ever watch on her own, but not terrible. Definitely not anything she really wanted to be on herself. Frankly, she was much more of a _Jeopardy_! person.

But, when she had been accepted, Ginny had nagged and nagged until Hermione had agreed. Now, she was just a half-hour away from being on TV for the first time and marrying someone she had never met. Now she was contracted to be on the show for months, with cameras following them around everywhere! Even if she was compatible with the man she was paired with, how would they build any type of normal relationship with that kind of pressure?

Hermione wasn’t sure. Well, that was untrue. She was positive that this was going to be a complete waste of time. All she’d have at the end of this was a hefty bill for a divorce she shouldn’t have ever had. Christ, what was she doing here?

“You’re going to do great, love,” the hairstylist, Jeanne, said. “You’re gorgeous and well-read. You’ll do just fine.”

“I’m not sure…” Hermione said. “I don’t really look forward to having cameras follow me around for the next six months.”

“It’s not that bad. The cameras are hidden pretty well. It’s not as if cameramen are going to be following you to the loo every day,” Jeanne said with a laugh. “The ones who are successful at this just ignore the cameras as much as possible. The best advice I can give is to focus on getting to know your new husband. The ones that work put effort into the relationship and that means talking.”

Hermione nodded. “That sounds like good advice. Hopefully, my future husband will be someone I can talk to.”

“I’m sure he will be. They do a fairly good job of matching people up. I mean the failure rate is high, but that’s more because most couples don’t put in the work and just jump right into the more physical aspects of marriage, thinking that they’ll get more screen time. Those are the ones who are only doing this for attention. I don’t think that applies to you, dear.”

“No, no I don’t even really want to be here. My best friend made me apply.”

“Well then, just keep what I said in mind and you’ll do great!” Jeanne said with a slight laugh. “Now, your hair is all set. It’s gorgeous. Marcus did a great job on your makeup, not that he needed to do much. I’ll tell you, your new husband is a lucky man!”

With that Jeanne wished Hermione luck and exited the dressing room, leaving the soon-to-be-married Hermione behind, deep in thought.

-:::-

The show was simple. The producers asked several questions after an application was accepted, and then they paired up a man and a woman who were good matches on paper. They did, often, put an emphasis on how good the couple would do for their show – they were in the money-making business after all – but mostly they did try to do a good job.

Once the match was made, the show would begin taping. The couple would meet for the first time at their wedding altar. Their vows would take place right there in episode one, with the fading credits being the pair signing their binding marriage certificate for authenticity. Before the wedding, the audience would learn more about the couple. Namely, they’d learn their professions, what they were looking for in a marriage, and a little bit about their personality.

After the vows, the couple would be given their own flat where they would be expected to live for six months. Each couple had to agree to stay married for at least six months. Once that time was over, the show’s season was over, and the couple could carry on as they wished. The flat itself was decked out with hidden cameras in all public areas – everywhere but the bedroom and bathroom. Once a week, the couple would be interviewed about their experiences with their marriage. These clips would be played interspersed with events from within their flat.

Most couples divorced after a year or less, but there had been success stories, and that kept the audience coming back. The audience loved the successes almost as much as the spectacular failures.

Now it was time for the ninth season of _Married at First Sight_.

-:::-

Hermione ran her fingers down her font, intrigued by how the lace felt under her fingertips. She’d never worn a wedding dress before. She was surprised by how uncomfortable the damn dress was. It felt like she was wearing something that had the life starched right out of it. There was no movement in it. She didn’t know if all dresses were like this or if it was just the one that had been selected for her.

It was pretty, though. The dress hugged her curves in just the right way without being crass, and it flared out around her hips flowing around her legs. The bare shoulders were an interesting choice, not something she would normally select, but she did look fantastic. The little bit of makeup they’d added and the great work they’d done with her hair made her look good enough to go on TV.

That thought made her hate the dress a little, but she pushed that aside. She was just moments away from walking down the aisle. The producers and director had already put her in the proper place, and the cameras were all pointed at her – though she knew that there were more cameras in the ‘church’ where her marriage was to take place, presumably pointed at the man she was about to marry.

“Okay, folks, let’s get these two hitched!” The Director called out. “Remember, Ms. Granger, you just act natural, and start down the aisle when the music starts to play.”

Hermione squeezed her father’s arm nervously. Her parents had not been happy about the way she was going about this, but eventually, they had agreed to take part.

“You ready for this, sweetheart?” Her dad asked.

“No.”

“Still time to back out, you know?”

“Not with a contract in place, dad. It’s much too late. Besides, if I stop this now, all this will have been for nothing. And Ginny would kill me. She was so excited when I saw her this morning.”

Her dad just grunted.

“I know this is all dumb, but maybe it’ll be okay.” Hermione didn’t know who she was fooling.

“We’ll see, Hermione. Just know your mom and I will be there for you no matter what.”

“Thanks, daddy,” Hermione said with a sniffle.

“Alright, folks. In 3…” the Director shouted.

Hermione gulped and tried to stuff down the need to flee for her life.

“2…”

This was a terrible mistake. Her parents were right. She was being reckless.

“1…”

God, she was going to be sick.

“Action!”

Hermione closed her eyes for a second before her father squeezed her hand. He didn’t say anything, but he did make it feel better. She looked up at him and gave him a small smile, which he returned. Then the music started to play and she started walking. The music was traditional, but that was okay. She wasn’t really paying attention. Instead, all she could see were cameras and people sitting in the fake pews. Her mother was there sitting in the front row. Ginny and Luna were already standing up near the altar, having finagled their way into being Hermione’s bridesmaids. She saw an older man with a Van Dyke beard along with a haggard-looking man with blonde hair sitting on the other side of the aisle.

And then there was the man standing at the head of the aisle in front of the alter altar. Hermione looked at him last.

His hair was a messy black and looked like it might have never seen a comb. It suited him, though, if she could judge from a distance. He was very fit. The tux he was wearing clung to him and made his shoulders look miles wide and made his slim waist stand out. Then there were his eyes. Hermione could have sworn that she had never seen eyes so green. As she and her father walked closer, those eyes became more and more intense.

Her last thought before her father handed her off to her groom – whose name she still didn’t know – was: _Well, at least if I had to marry a stranger, at least he’s hot._

-:::-

Harry Potter was going to kill his godfather. Sirius Black was a prankster extraordinaire. He was also a huge pain in the arse. Harry loved the man who had raised him, but that didn’t mean that Harry approved of the constant pranks that he had been subject to throughout the years.

At 25 years old, Harry felt that he should have been used to it. After all, Harry had been on the receiving end of Sirius’ pranks since he was just a toddler. But that thought was before Sirius had signed him up for this stupid TV show. How the man had done it without actually getting Harry to apply for himself was beyond comprehension, and neither Sirius nor Remus were talking about how they had done it.

Needless to say, by the time Harry had found out about the whole thing, it was too late. He had been accepted. When he had tried to back out before the contract was signed, Sirius had called him a coward and bet that he would never be brave enough to go through with it.

Harry, being who he was, was not about to put up with Sirius’ attempts at besmirching his honor, so he had signed the damn contract. And now, here he was. Moments away from marrying some total stranger.

He’d had his hair done – not that the hair artist had been able to do anything other than make it look like a stylish mess – and had makeup put on his face. He’d talked a bit with his godfather and Remus, mostly glaring at them for getting him into this in the first place, and then he had stood on the x where the Director had told him to stand.

It had all happened so fast, and Harry was afraid that he was never going to catch up.

Just four months ago, he was happily shagging Tonks every single day. They’d never really made their relationship official, but they enjoyed each other’s company. But then she had met some guy and she’d dumped Harry so fast he’d received whiplash. It had hurt a bit. They’d been ‘together’ for two years, and Harry had thought that maybe someday they would make it official. Then it was over and Harry had moped around.

He had moped right up to the point where Sirius had signed him up for this idiotic TV show. Then he’d gotten angry. Then insulted. And then he’d signed the contract because reverse psychology had always worked on him, no matter how hard he tried to avoid such situations.

Harry shuffled his feet as he waited for the Director to start the cameras. This was a mistake. He knew it. There was no way in hell that he’d still be married to this girl in seven months. All he’d get out of this was a divorce and probably a broken heart. Goodness knows he always got too attached to the women he dated – Tonks being the latest example.

“Buck up, Harry,” Draco, his best man, said. “You’ll get this done and you’ll be able to get back at Padfoot and Moony. Maybe your new spouse will help you in your revenge.”

“Shut up, Malfoy. Why am I even friends with you?” Harry asked, knowing the answer.

“Oh, I don’t know? Maybe because we’ve known each other since we were in nappies? I’m pretty sure my mum still shows that picture of us in the tub together when we were three to every girl who comes to visit.”

Harry groaned. “She showed Tonks too. I hate her so much.”

Draco laughed. “Yeah me too. Seriously, though, you’ll be fine. It might be fun, who knows? If it’s not, get an annulment in six months and move on. By then maybe Tonks will be sick of her new boy toy and you can go back to working her over as often as possible.”

“Yeah, that’s not going to happen,” Harry said. He was about to say more when the Director called them to action and the bridal march started to play.

The normal way for the bridesmaids to enter wasn’t used here. Harry thought that it had something to do with the cameras wanting to put all the attention on the bride and groom. Instead, a young redhead and a pretty blond were standing on the opposite side of the steps.

It wasn’t long before a young woman appeared through the archway at the end of the ‘church’ on the arm of an older man. Harry, not one usually to be captured by someone’s looks right off the bat, couldn’t take his eyes off from the woman in the pretty wedding dress.

Her brown hair was done up in a frilly bun, with just a few curly strands left loose to frame her face. The veil she wore didn’t hide her beauty away at all. Her face was perfect, but her eyes were what caught him. Dark, stormy, chocolatey brown eyes stared at him like they knew his every secret. He couldn’t take his eyes away, nor did he want to.

When the young woman and her father reached the end of the Aisle, Harry reached his hand out and grasped hers. He gasped when a shock of electricity passed through them. The woman noticed it too if her wide eyes were anything to go by.

“May I introduce you?” The magistrate asked.

Harry didn’t say anything, but the woman nodded. They were still staring at each other. Harry was enthralled.

“Lord Harry James Potter, Earl of Gryffindor, please meet, Hermione Jean Granger.”

Hermione. That was such a cool name, Harry thought. Hermione’s eyes had widened even more when the magistrate had given out Harry’s title. Harry grimaced a bit, already hating that he had let them use his title.

“We gather here today to witness the joining of this couple…” The magistrate started, but Harry wasn’t listening. He was still staring at the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. He would have to thank Sirius later for such a wonderful prank. ****


	2. Vows, Family and An Awkward Limo Ride

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Hermione say I do, learn a little about each other, and meet each other's families.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a.n. Thanks to everyone who followed and reviewed! I think I responded to everyone, but if not, just know that you have my thanks.  
> Because I was an idiot and signed up for a summer writing fest, the updates on this one won’t be as plentiful as I had once hoped. I’m shooting for once a month. I’ll try to make sure that the chapters are long enough to make the updates worth it.  
> Thanks to StruggleMuggle for looking this over and making sure that it’s not gibberish.   
> Finally, the POV in this story is going to shift. Kind of like a TV show. That said, not everything you see from the characters is ‘on camera’ so to speak. Usually what’s on the show will be done from a third-person perspective or a narrator of some kind. I hope to not make this confusing. Let me know if I’m succeeding.  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter. Like at all.

The vows didn’t last long. Granted, all they consisted of were a few words by the ‘priest’ and asking them if they swore to honor each other for the rest of their lives. The thought almost made Hermione snort out loud. This wasn’t for the rest of their lives. This was for six months and then a quickie divorce. No long drawn out affair over possessions, no hurt feelings, nothing like that. While she was pretty impressed that they managed to somehow convince an Earl to get married on a TV show – and he was quite good looking – Hermione was almost 100% positive that in six months she’d be back to her normal, boring life.

After all, that was really all she wanted.

Once the priest proclaimed them husband and wife, they were asked to kiss. That made her blush. Hermione could actually feel the blood rushing to her face. They had to kiss? Like on the lips? How had she not known about this requirement?

Unsurprisingly, her new husband looked equally embarrassed, if the flush on his cheeks was anything to go by. But, he squared his shoulders and lent down – he was quite a bit taller than her after all – and pressed his mouth against hers. Hermione froze. It felt almost as if she had touched an active powerline. Electricity like she had never felt before flowed through her. The feeling was incredible and terrifying. It made her pull back, even if it was the last thing her body wanted to do.

Hermione knew her eyes were wide with shock. The look was mirrored on Harry’s face as well.  _ So he’d felt it too, _ Hermione thought idly. It took every ounce of her willpower to not pull her hands away from him – likely so that she could press at least one hand to her lips, which still felt like they were on fire. 

There was a smattering of applause from their family and friends, which brought Hermione out of her reverie and back into reality. Right. People were watching. And there were cameras. A lot of cameras. All of them recording the way she was behaving after a simple kiss.  _ Get a grip, Granger _ .  _ Potter. Whatever.  _

Hermione grimaced. That was one thing she hadn’t thought about. Taking his name. Was she going to take his name? She’d always been kind of traditional in that regard. She always thought that when she finally found a husband, that she’d end up being Hermione Whatever. Well. Now here she was – married, with a ring to prove it. Was she going to take his name?

She didn’t have a lot of time to decide. She gripped Harry’s arm tightly as he led her back down the aisle, the cameras following them the whole way. She knew they were almost done. All that was left was singing the marriage license. That was when she’d have to make the decision.

Hermione Potter.

Well, at least it didn’t sound hideous. And when this farce ended in six months, it wouldn’t be a huge deal to go back to her maiden name. And if she was going to do this, she might as well do it the way she wanted it done.

The director cut the cameras when they reached the end of the aisle. Hermione let go of her new husband and took a small step back. She just needed a minute to breathe away from all of this.

“Hey, you okay?” He asked.

Hermione nodded. “Yes.”

“Well, it’s nice to meet you,” Harry joked.

“Nice to meet you too,” Hermione said with a laugh. “I can’t believe we just did that.”

Harry laughed with her. “I can’t either. I’m Harry Potter, by the way.” He reached out a hand, which Hermione shook good-naturedly. After all, they’d already kissed.

“Hermione Granger.”

“So, how did you get roped into this?”

Hermione narrowed her eyes. “How do you know that I didn’t sign up for this all on my own? Maybe I wanted to marry in front of the entire country.”

“No, I don’t think so. Your face said it all when we were up there. You wanted to be anywhere else. I don’t really blame you. I didn’t want to do this either.”

“Oh? Then why are you here?” Hermione asked.

“My Godfather and his husband pranked me and then told me I would be a coward if I didn’t sign the contract.”

“Well, it was kind of the same for me. My best friend signed me up and then convinced me that it was ‘going to be fun.’ Whatever that means.”

“Sounds like we both need to spend time with other people,” Harry joked.

“True.”

“So what happens next? Why are they just letting us stand here?”

“I think they’re moving the cameras into position,” Hermione replied, looking around. Sure enough, the cameras that had followed them down the aisle were now being set up surrounding a table with a fancy table cloth thrown over the top of it. Two chairs were set up next to the table.

“So that’s where we make this official. It seems a bit tacky.”

“The whole thing feels tacky, if you ask me,” Hermione said softly.

They were interrupted when a fairly large group of people approached them. The director was at the head of the group.

“We’re going to get some shots of the two of you meeting each other’s families and friends after you sign the marriage license. Then we’ll be done and the two of you can mingle for a while off camera before we take you to your flat.”

Harry offered his arm. “My lady? Off to sign away your next six months.”

Hermione laughed and took his arm. At least he wasn’t expecting anything more out of the marriage than she was. That was good news.

-:::-

Five minutes later, Hermione was officially Hermione Jean Potter. Lady Gryffindor. When Harry had called her that, Hermione had nearly lost it completely. Was that really her? She’d have to ask how Harry was even allowed to participate in such a thing when he was an Earl. Was it even legal?

Once the ink was dried, they were led over to a small area where their family and friends were waiting. Per the show’s tradition – which was horribly sexist if you asked Hermione – they were to meet the groom’s family first.

“Hermione, this is my Godfather Sirius Black and his husband Remus Lupin.”

The man introduced as Harry’s godfather was a handsome man with a Van Dyke beard on his face. His black hair was cut short and his grey eyes were almost boiling over with mischief. The man’s husband was much more subdued. His blonde hair was thinning, but otherwise, he was nearly as handsome as his partner. Hermione shook both their hands.

“You two look lovely. They did a good job matching you up,” Mr. Lupin said.

“So, pup,” Black broke in. “Looks like you finally got yourself hitched.”

“Can it, Padfoot. You know damn well that you’re to blame for everything that happens from here on out,” Harry said, his voice promising retribution. Hermione nodded, thinking that she may very well help her new husband get revenge on his godfather. If, that is, he’d help her get even with Ginny. She was sure that Harry would help. He didn’t seem like the kind of guy who would leave a lady hanging, especially his wife.

“I can’t believe I just stood through your wedding, Potter,” another blonde haired man said. This was Harry’s best man. Hermione hadn’t paid much attention to the man when they had been getting married, but now that she had the chance, she could admit that he was very handsome.

“Malfoy, behave yourself. I stood with you through yours. Returning the favor was the least you could do. Hermione, this idiot is my best mate, Draco Malfoy. Malfoy, this is Hermione Potter nee Granger.”

“It’s nice to meet you. I’m sorry that you had to be tied down to this wanker,” Malfoy said.

“Hey!”

Hermione giggled. “I’m sure he’s going to be fine. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Let’s go meet your parents,” Harry said. “I’m sure they’re going to be much better company than my side of the family.”

They walked over to where her parents were waiting along with Ginny and Luna.

“It was lovely, Hermione,” Her mother said. “They did a surprisingly tasteful job.”

Hermione wanted to roll her eyes. Her mother was being polite – for the cameras, of course. Her mum thought that this was the dumbest thing Hermione had ever done and that she’d regret it for the rest of her life.

“They did,” Hermione agreed. “Mum. Dad. This is my husband, Harry Potter. Harry, this is my mum, Dr. Helen Granger and my father, Dr. Robert Granger.”

“It’s nice to meet you sir, ma’am,” Harry said confidently, shaking their hands.

“And you as well,” Robert said. Hermione grimaced as her dad tried to squeeze the life out of Harry’s hand. Harry just smiled but didn’t say anything. That made her dad frown. Hermione wanted to hit him upside the head. This was definitely not the time for her father to get into a pissing match with her new husband. Not with cameras around, at least.

“Harry, these are my best friends, Ginny Longbottom and Luna Lovegood.”

Harry grinned at them. “Nice to meet you, ladies.”

They were joined shortly thereafter by Sirius, Remus, and Draco. The whole group spent the next ten minutes talking. Mostly small talk, though Hermione did notice that her dad and Sirius got into a serious conversation.

When the Director called the cameras to be shut off. Hermione breathed a sigh of relief. It was over. Well, at least it was over for today. There were no cameras in the car that was going to take them to their flat. Unfortunately, there were cameras in the flat itself. That was going to be hard to get used to. But at least there weren’t going to be cameramen following them around the home they’d be sharing for the next six months.

“The limo is waiting for the two of you,” The director said. “You can hang here for a bit if you’d like, say your goodbyes. The producers will meet with you in the morning to go over your schedules for the next week.”

With that, the cameramen started to take the cameras away and the Director walked towards the front of the building, leaving them alone – with no cameras – for the first time since the episode started to shoot.

“Well, that was very interesting,” Robert Granger said.

“Indeed it was,” Sirius Black answered with a grin.

“So, honestly,” Helen Granger said, “What do the two of you think about your son doing this?”

“I’m the one who got him into this,” Sirius said proudly. “So I think it’s a grand idea.”

Hermione, who somehow found herself still holding Harry’s arm, heard Harry groan. She turned towards him. “He’s not exactly subtle is he?”

Harry laughed. “No.”

“Hey!”

“We should go,” Hermione said. “It’s already late and we still have to get settled into the new flat. Goodness knows what will await us there.”

“You’ll call us?” her mum asked. “I know we’re going to have dinner later this week, but we won’t really be able to talk because of the cameras.”

“I’ll call.”

Hermione pulled away from Harry and hugged her parents. Harry went to say his own goodbyes. A few minutes later, they were alone sitting in awkward silence in the back of a limo.

-:::-

The silence was heavy. Harry noticed it the moment the limo pulled away from the curve. They’d talked fairly freely back in the studio, but now? Now it was awkward. They were alone. Married and alone and what the hell were they supposed to talk about?

“Can I ask a question,” Hermione asked, finally breaking the silence.

“Sure.”

“How is it that a Lord can get married on a TV show?”

Harry laughed. “I don’t have much to do with the Queen. But honestly, there aren’t any rules. At least for me. I’m not a member of the royal family. Something like seventy people would have to die before I would be close to taking the throne. I’m sure if I were a more public member of the aristocracy or if I actually served in the Parliament, then I’d have to follow some rules of etiquette, but as is, no one cares.”

“I guess that makes sense. I was born here and I’d never actually heard of your earldom before.”

“Not many people have. I’d love to tell you some of the history. It might give us something to talk about to break the inevitable awkward silences we’ll have to suffer through.”

Hermione laughed. “I think we’ll do just fine.”

“I agree. So what do you do for a living?”

“I’m a librarian, actually.”

“Really?” Harry asked. He couldn’t stop himself from imagining her with a sexy pair of eyeglasses and a short skirt. He blushed when he realized that the sexy librarian thing really did it for him.

“Is it so hard to believe?”

“No. Honestly, I had no preconceptions about what you did. I just kind of have a thing for librarians, that’s all,” Harry replied, his blush deepening.  _ Thank goodness it’s dark in this car, _ he thought.

Hermione laughed again. “Well, that’s fortuitous. What about you, my Lord,” she teased. “What do you do? Or are you at home running your grand estate making sure the servants don’t run off with the silver?”

“My servants would never do anything like that,” Harry said haughtily. Then he laughed. “I’m actually a doctoral student at Oxford.”

“Really?” Hermione mocked. Harry reached over and poked her in the side which made her laugh at him harder. “What are you studying?”

“History with a specialty in ancient studies.”

“Wow, that’s deep. What got you interested in that?”

Harry shrugged. “I’ve always had a thing for history. I guess you could say it’s a family trait. My parents died in a car crash when I was a baby, but my godfather has told me a lot about my family. It turns out both my father and grandfather were historians. So I grew up hearing stories about how cool they were, so naturally, I wanted to be just like them.”

“That’s sweet.”

“What books do you like?” Harry asked, changing the subject.

“How do you know I like books,” Hermione replied, her eyes narrowed.

“You’re a librarian,” Harry said slowly. “One kind of assumes the other.”

Hermione laughed. “You’re too easy. I love books. Always have. When I graduated from high school I wanted to do something with books. I considered becoming an author and I do write a bit, but I’m not great at it. I also considered working in a book shop, but the pay is only mediocre if you don’t actually own the book shop and all the good little stores are being pushed out by the bigger brands. So, I decided to study Library Science at university.”

“Sounds like you had a good plan. Do you work in a big library?”

“The London Library, actually, so yes. I’m an associate librarian there.”

They sat in silence for several minutes. The limo was still rolling along the streets of London, slowly making its way toward the flat they’d share near Greenwich. 

“Do you think this is going to work?” Hermione asked softly, chewing her bottom lip.

“Will what work?”

“This. This marriage?”

Harry thought about his answer for several moments. “I don’t know. Do you want it to work?”

“I...I think that is a question that I can’t answer. It’s all just so crazy. Even if we were in this situation without the pressure of being filmed throughout the next six months, it’d still be crazy. I never thought that I’d get married to someone I don’t know. I also never thought that I’d be married more than once. I never thought I’d get divorced. So maybe I want it to work. But that’s crazy too, right? I mean, of course, this isn’t going to work. We don’t know each other, and even if we spend the next six months learning about each other, that doesn’t mean we should be married for the rest of our lives. This is crazy! Why did I even agree to this? What are we going to do? I mean I even took your last name, and you called me Lady Gryffindor earlier, so that’s something else I have to deal with, and…”

“Hermione! Breathe!” Harry shouted.

Hermione went silent, breathing hard. Harry reached across and grasped her hand. Hermione squeezed back as he interlaced their fingers. It felt good to hold her hand. It wasn’t something he’d done often with his girlfriends in the past, not that he’d dated all that much. Tonks was his longest ‘relationship,’ and they were only shag buddies. His other relationships had all been short-lived flings. It turned out it was really hard to find someone who wanted him and not his title.

“It’s going to be okay,” he said. “I don’t have an answer to your question. Do I think this will work? I don’t know. Do I want it to work? Again, I don’t know. I’m with you. I didn’t think I’d ever be placed in a situation where I married someone I didn’t know. It’s not what my parents would have wanted and given the way your dad strangled my hand earlier, I expect your parents weren’t that happy about it either. I guess what we’ll have to do is just do our best.

“We can’t really do this our own way. The show is going to control a lot of our relationship, and that sucks because I think it’ll decrease the chances of this working out. What we can do is take the time when we’re not being filmed or at least when we’re not meeting obligations for the show, and really get to know each other as well as we can. Maybe it’ll work. Maybe it won’t. Let’s see if we can get through it either way without hating each other’s guts by the end of it.”

Hermione nodded. Harry reached over with his free hand and wiped away a tear that had flowed down his wife’s cheek.

It was only then that he truly came to terms with it. Only after talking with this girl about the chances of their new marriage succeeding that Harry realized that he was married. Oh, he had known it, but it hadn’t sunk in. He was married to this interesting creature sitting beside him holding his hand.

She was gorgeous. She seemed smart. She was exactly the type of girl he would have wanted to marry if he had gotten to choose. So did he want it to work out?

Harry thought that just maybe he really did.

**a.n.2. Harry has always come across to me as a romantic. So it makes sense to me that he’d maybe want this crazy marriage to work.**

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	3. Fun Things To Do

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Hermione see their new home and get to know each other a bit more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a.n. This chapter picks up right after the last chapter ended. Thanks to everyone who has reviewed, faved, and followed this story. You’re all amazing people! Also, if you’ve watched the show, you’ll know that something strange is going on with the lack of a honeymoon. I’ve got that covered.   
> Thanks to Renny236 who beta-ed this chapter for me. She did an awesome job!  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter.

The flat was located on the fourth floor. When they arrived upstairs, they found one of the show producers waiting to meet with them. 

“The cameras are already set up and going,” the man said. “In the morning, we will meet and go over the first week’s schedule. You’ll have a lot of free time, both on camera in the flat and away from it on your own. We’ll talk more about that in the morning.”

With that, the man handed Harry a key and left them alone. Harry glanced down at his wife and shrugged. “That was abrupt, but I guess it is getting late.”

“Yeah. Shall we see our home for the next six months?” Hermione asked with a grin. Harry smiled back and offered her his arm.

Harry led her towards the flat they had been assigned and slowly unlocked the door. The flat wasn’t dark like Harry had thought it would be, but then again, how would they film if it was completely dark? The newlywed couple walked in slowly and admired the luxurious little flat. It wasn’t huge from what Harry could see. The living space took up most of the open floor plan, with a small kitchen off to one side. The main feature was a pair of large windows that looked out over the street below. The walls were painted soft gray and the furniture was modern and tasteful. 

“Well, it’s not a mansion or anything,” Hermione said, “but it will do.”

“Mansions are overrated anyway,” Harry quipped. “Shall we get settled in? I don’t know about you, but I would really like to get out of this tux and into something more comfortable. Nobody ever tells you how uncomfortable dress clothes are.”

Hermione laughed. “Wedding dresses are the same.”

There was a hall just off the kitchen that they found led to a small bathroom and a medium-sized bedroom. That was where they froze. Harry had known, at least subconsciously, that they would have to share a bed. But seeing just one bed brought that home.

From the look on Hermione’s face, Harry thought she must be having the same realization. She slowly turned towards him. “Well, I guess if there is no other indication that this is real, this is it.”

“Yeah.” Harry took a breath. “We’ll be fine though. I’ll sleep out on the couch and you can take the bed.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” Hermione said fiercely. “First off, the couch isn’t a long term solution. Second, if you sleep on the couch, the cameras will see you and people will talk. They expect us to sleep together. We should just consider ourselves lucky that there are no cameras in the bedroom.”

Harry nodded. “Okay. I’ll be a perfect gentleman.”

“I know you will,” Hermione said with a soft smile. “I may have only met you tonight, but I don’t think you’re the type of man to take advantage of a woman.”

Harry just smiled back. “You want the bathroom first?”

“Thank you.”

Harry watched her go, and then turned back and looked at the bed. This was going to be awkward for a while.

-:::-

The next morning, Hermione was the first to wake. The first thing she noticed was that her pillow, which was normally soft and fluffy, was hard and well...moving up and down. That was odd. She cracked one eye open, then immediately closed it again. She could feel her face heating up. She buried her face into Harry’s chest, which is apparently where she had come to rest during the night. Their legs were tangled together and his arm was wrapped around her.

It was so...embarrassing! But she had also never felt so safe in her entire life. The feeling was terrifying because it just felt so...right, even though she couldn’t properly describe it.

Hermione knew she had to move. She didn’t want to be caught like this, though it wasn’t as if she was doing anything wrong. She was allowed to cuddle with her husband. That thought just made her blush more.  _ “Her husband.” _

She was married.

Holy shite.

Hermione slowly and gently extricated herself from her husband’s arms and shuffled her way to the bathroom after grabbing fresh clothes from her luggage. The bathroom was well laid out, although smaller than she was used to. The shower was nice, and it kept hot water longer than her own flat.

Once she was dressed for the day, she decided that she would start to unpack the two suitcases that she had brought with her. They’d been told to bring enough for a couple of weeks, and that there would be a laundry service that would renew their items at the end of each week. Hermione knew she’d also be allowed to go back to her flat if she needed to. One of her cases was mostly full of books.

A half-hour later, Harry woke up. Hermione thought he looked adorable. When she was going through the process of finding her match for the show – mostly interviews with ‘experts’ – she never really gave much thought to who she would be matched with. Hermione could be honest and say that she really hadn’t put that much effort into it at all because she just knew that it was going to fail. If anything, she thought that the man she would end up paired with would be disappointing right from the off.

But Harry Potter was anything but disappointing. From the moment she’d laid eyes on him, there had been a connection, unlike anything she felt before. Some of that had to do with how he looked. But there was something else there too, not that she could pinpoint what it was.

“Good morning,” Harry greeted her sleepily.

“Good morning,” Hermione said with a smile. “I hope I didn’t wake you?”

“No. This is about when I get up each morning.”

“Good. I’m just unpacking. There’s no sense in living out of the suitcase for the next six months.” Hermione didn’t know why she felt the need to state what she was doing. She just felt extremely nervous for some reason. Maybe it was that she was married to the man who was sitting up in the bed they had shared or maybe it was Harry’s bare chest and the extremely defined muscles that were no longer covered by a sheet.

Maybe it was both. She didn’t know.

“Good idea. I’m going to go clean up and then I’ll see if they stored anything in the kitchen for breakfast,” Harry said.

“You cook?”

Harry laughed. “Sometimes. I’m pretty good at it, but I don’t enjoy it. I’ve done it a lot in my life because neither my Godfather nor his husband can cook worth a damn.”

“Well, I guess it’s good that you can do it. I can burn water without trying,” Hermione said with no shame. “My mother tried to teach me many times growing up, but in the end gave it up as a bad job when I almost burnt the house down for the second time.”

Hermione mock-scowled at her husband, who was laughing at her. “It’s not funny!”

“It is a bit funny. But don’t worry. I’m sure there are tons of things out there that you’re better at than I am.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Hermione said haughtily.

Harry just laughed more as he got out of bed. She watched appreciatively as he walked to his own bags and pulled out a set of clothes for the day.

She didn’t stop watching him, even as he grinned at her and walked out of the bedroom. She only looked away when he was gone.

One thing was for sure. Her husband was seriously hot.

-:::-

After the nice little breakfast that Harry had cooked for them, they sat together in the small living room and talked, trying to ignore the fact that there were cameras pointed at them.

“So other than being a librarian, what do you do for fun?” Harry asked.

“Well, I like to read,” Hermione said with a smirk, causing Harry to laugh. “Otherwise, I do the usual stuff. I love to travel and discover new places. My family traveled quite a lot during my younger years. I love Paris the most. Someday I’m going to move there or at least have a vacation home there. The culture and the food,” Hermione groaned. “I could have been born French.”

“I’ve been to Paris a lot too. It’s a nice city. My favorite place I’ve been was New York City, though I wouldn’t want to live there. It’s very busy, but I love that there is so much to do. I mean, there’s a lot to do in London, too, but New York City is on a whole other level.”

“I’ve never been. What’s it like?”

“I guess the best way to describe it would be organized chaos or constant movement. Everyone is going somewhere and is in a hurry. I loved Broadway. My first time there I was like, oh I don’t know, eight maybe? Sirius was there on business so Remus took me to see The Phantom of the Opera. Now, keep in mind that I’m a boy and I was eight. I heard the word “opera” and just knew it was going to be God awful. I complained and complained about having to see such a  _ girly _ show.” Harry took a sip of tea.

“Remus just made fun of me” Harry continued, “and told me that we could see something more manly later. I was a little snot, and just knew I was going to be throwing up during the entire show. But I loved it.”

Hermione laughed.

“It was just so good. The music was awesome and even at eight I guess I was a bit of a romantic.”

“I’ve seen the movie,” Hermione said, “but never the live show.”

“Wow, okay, we’ll need to go see it. The movie just doesn’t do it justice. Gerard Butler might be many things, but a singer is not one of them. Some of those high notes are cringeworthy.”

Hermione was about to ask something else when there was a knock on the door.

Harry got up and answered it, after giving Hermione an apologetic look. A moment later, he came back with a man following him.

“I’m Michael Matthews, I’m an associate producer and I’m in charge of the event schedule,” the man said. He shook Hermione’s hand when she stood. The three sat.

“First off, just so you know, meetings like this, while filmed, will be edited out later. Now, as I’m sure you’re aware, the show uses several events that are meant to bring the two of you closer together and entertain our viewers. There usually will be three events a week. We’ll take cuts from those and put them in the show, interspersed with cuts from the footage we get here in the flat. There are also times where the two of you will be expected to interact with your friends and family either here or out and about. 

“I’ll leave it up to the two of you to come up with what those events will be, but I just ask that you give us notice so that we can work them into the schedule. We need at least one such event with people you know each week. Preferably these will be with people who were at your wedding and have already signed their permission forms.”

Harry asked, “Is that weekly event with family or friends in addition to the two or three you have planned or does it replace one of those?”

“It takes the place of one of those events, Lord Potter. Now, the first event this week is just a simple date at a restaurant that we’ve used before, nothing extravagant. After that, you’ll go dancing at a jazz club that has been rented out just for you.

“The next event,” Matthews continued, “will be the dinner with your parents, Hermione. That will take place Wednesday night at their home. There will be two cameramen there with you, a producer, and one stationary camera that they’ll likely move around several times during the night. As you did with your wedding yesterday, everyone should just act as normal as possible. Hopefully, by then the two of you will know each other a little better. 

“I know that you both have this week off from your obligations, so we’d like you to choose the third thing you do. Just let us know beforehand and we’ll be able to plan on how best to film it. We’ll also ask you to use the selfie stick a few times to film yourself when you’re out without something planned on our end. Make sense?”

Both Harry and Hermione nodded their heads and then looked at each other. Hermione thought the selfie stick was ridiculous, but she held her tongue. From the smirk on Harry’s face, he thought so too. But then, what wasn’t ridiculous about this entire scenario?

“The date will be tomorrow night, at 8. The car will be here to pick you up at 7:30. Do be prompt as we only have the restaurant cleared for an hour and a half. Now, do you have any questions?”

“Will you be giving us a more accurate schedule for when we return to work and school?” Harry asked. “We’ll need to know so we can schedule around it.”

“Yes. The dinner with Lady Potter’s parents will be at 6:30, the car will be here at 5:30 since it is a bit of a ride. And you get to choose the third one this week.”

“Okay.” Harry had been surprised that they had been allowed to keep up with their daily schedules. But the explanation of wanting the marriage to seem normal (Harry thought realistic was a better word) made sense to him. He knew they were meant to fully integrate their lives, socially, financially, and so on. One of the things they had to sign the night before was a prenuptial agreement, for which Harry was thankful. 

“Well then, I’m done for today. My number is beside the landline, and the producers have a suite right next door, so you can get hold of someone most anytime should you need us or have questions.”

With that, Matthews shook their hands and left the flat. The newlyweds sat beside each other, silent for a long moment. 

“Well, this is going to be interesting,” Hermione said. 

“Yeah. So what do you want to do today? We seem to have all of today to ourselves.”

“We could go for a walk around the neighborhood? I’m not familiar with Greenwich at all.”

“I’ve been here a few times. A walk sounds nice. Maybe we can get lunch while we’re out.”

Hermione nodded while thinking that this entire farce seemed so unnatural and that there was no way that the people who eventually watched the show wouldn’t be able to tell how forced it was.

-:::-

They walked side by side without touching each other. Harry thought about taking her hand a couple of times but eventually decided against it. For one, they’d known each other for less than 24 hours. Holding hands didn’t seem like something you’d do with someone you’d only known for a day. Hermione seemed lost in thought, and he wasn’t sure if he had a right to even ask her what was on her mind. 

In the end, he didn’t have to ask.

“They always do the honeymoon at the end,” She said, breaking the silence. “It always seemed so odd to me.”

Harry nodded. “Yeah, it does seem odd. But the way they explained it to me was that they wanted us to be more comfortable with each other and that they don’t even do the honeymoon for everyone on the show. Those that can’t stand each other at the end don’t go on one.”

“I can see how it would be hard to honeymoon with someone you hated. But it seems like a shame to waste a free trip.”

Harry laughed. “True. What made you think of that now?”

“I’m just thinking about how odd all of this is. I mean now that I’m here, this doesn’t seem anything like the finished show that I’ve watched.”

“Editing is everything, I guess. It does seem surreal.” Harry was silent for a moment. “Okay. Let’s play a game. Twenty questions. We need to get to know each other and right now there are no cameras.”

“Okay. I’m game.”

“You go first.”

“Huh. Okay. What’s your favorite book?”

Harry laughed again. “Typical,” he said, bumping her shoulder. Hermione glared but eventually laughed along with him. “Well, let’s see. If we’re talking fiction, my favorite book is probably  _ The Lord of the Rings _ , though Umberto Eco has some great historical fiction that I enjoy. If it’s non-fiction you’re asking about, well, that’s harder. I read so much of that, it’d be hard to choose. My favorite historian is Francis Fukuyama. Not even for any real reason, just that he has a cool name and can really write.”

“That is a cool name, I guess if you’re 12 years old. Are you? 12 years old, I mean?” 

“Nope. I’m at least 14,” Harry joked. “Fukuyama was one of the first historians that I read when I was in college. His book  _ The End of History and the Last Man _ was assigned in my first history course. I think that’s why I remember it.”

“That makes more sense.”

“Okay, what about you, Mrs. Librarian?”

Hermione blushed at being called  _ Mrs. _ but carried on. “Well, I like  _ Lord of the Rings _ too, but it’s not my favorite. Too much singing for my taste. I’m going to go with  _ Pride and Prejudice _ as my favorite. I don’t have a favorite non-fiction book. Your turn.”

“Do you have any hobbies?” He asked.

“Well, I do enjoy knitting. I also write when I get a chance.”

“Oh? Anything I might have read?”

Hermione shrugged. “I don’t know? Do you read fanfiction?”

“Yes!” Harry said laughing. “You write fanfic? What fandom?”

“Well,  _ Pride and Prejudice  _ is where I focus most of my effort,” Hermione said, with a blush. She’d never come across anyone in real life who understood her zeal for writing fanfiction. Most people laughed at her or told her that if she ever wanted to be a published author, she’d have to write something original one day and that fanfiction was a waste of time. Harry didn’t seem to hold it against her and seemed to be a fan himself. “I also write a bit for a few American dramas that I’ve been hooked on for years.”

“I don’t write, but I’ve been reading fanfic for ages. There’s lots of great stuff out there. Now, you said you like to travel. Other than Paris, where have you been?”

“Hey, my question,” Hermione said, poking him in the side causing him to laugh. “You never told me what you do for fun.”

“Well, I read a lot, but I also like to hike and go on bike adventures. We did a lot of traveling as well when I was younger, so that was fun. I also enjoy plays and movies. Lots and lots of movies.”

“Okay, what’s your favorite movie?”

“Oh, that’s easy. Godfather II. By far the best movie ever made.”

“Really,” Hermione asked, her nose scrunched up. “It isn’t that good.”

“We’re getting a divorce, take that back!” Harry said, stopping in his tracks and mock-glaring at her, his eyes twinkling. 

“I will not, and we’re not getting a divorce,” Hermione said snidely. “You’re stuck with me for a while yet. I guess I’ll just have to introduce you to some good cinema before the end.”

Harry grumbled. He took her hand, finally, and gave it a squeeze, which caused them both to break out in laughter. 

They walked for a couple of hours before finding a cafe where they had lunch. The entire time, they asked questions, learning more and more about each other. Neither realized that they held hands for the rest of the afternoon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a.n.2. Well, there’s that one in the bag. Let me know what you think. I do have some things planned that will make this less filler, so they won’t all be like this one, but there are going to be just a lot of them talking to each other and going places and doing stuff together.  
> Thanks to Samantha who has given me some ideas on what happens on the show. If you’ve watched it, you know that this story isn’t anything like the show. I’m finding I’m okay with that.   
> Reviews are like cookies, the more you have the more you want.


	4. Kiss the Girl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Hermione freak out a bit, and get some pep talks from their BFFs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a.n. Here’s another chapter!   
> I know I’m making Harry very intelligent. He’s a doctoral student for a reason. In almost every HHr story I write, Harry will be Hermione’s equal when it comes to intelligence. Having him as his canon self makes the ship less believable for me.  
> Also, I know that this once a month update schedule is not working for some readers. Sorry about that, but it is unlikely to change.   
> Thanks to Renny236 for being an awesome beta!  
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter.

**Week 1 (Monday)**

When they got back from their walk and lunch, Hermione excused herself to their bedroom. She needed a bit of time alone. Honestly, the entire thing was going much too fast, and she felt overwhelmed.

The entire experience, all of 24 hours old at this point, was nothing like she had expected. First, Hermione had expected to be completely indifferent to her new spouse. Oh, she thought that maybe they’d be able to talk to one another, but she didn’t even consider that she might be  _ attracted _ to him. After all, she’d been certain that this was a farce. 

The problem was that she  _ was _ attracted to her spouse. More than that, Hermione found him endlessly fascinating. Never before had she connected with a man so easily. 

The second – related – problem was that they fit so well together. The talk today during their walk could have been between two people who had known and loved each other for decades. It was like she knew him and he knew her. Even their  _ hands _ had fit together like they were made for each other.

And that was  _ terrifying _ . 

Hermione needed to talk to someone. And while there were other couples in their flat complex that were shooting the same show as them – they’d supposedly interact with the other couples a lot – Hermione needed to talk to someone she knew.

She sat on the toilet, pulled her iPhone out of her jeans pocket, and then rang Ginny.

“It’s about damn time you called me, bitch,” Ginny said. Hermione smirked.

“And with a greeting like that, I’m left to wonder why I waited so long,” Hermione said drolly.

“Well, you’re safe for now, but when I see you next, I’m kicking your ass. You were supposed to call me  _ hours _ ago.”

“Stop whinging. I was busy.”

“Ooooooh. Do tell,” Ginny said. Hermione could almost hear the redhead leering.

“Shut up. It wasn’t like that. We just took a walk.”

“Is  _ that _ what they’re calling it these days?”

Hermione groaned. “Ginny…”

“Fine. I’ll stop talking about your soon to be sex life with your hot, hot husband.” Ginny paused. “For a few minutes at least. Now, really, how is it going?”

“It’s going...I don’t know,” Hermione sighed. “I mean…”

“Is he horrible? I mean some of the douchebags on the show think an awful lot of themselves. Did he try to pressure you into sex?”

“No! No, nothing like that. He was...is...a perfect gentleman.”

“Okay, then why do you sound so confused?”

Hermione scowled. “He’s perfect, Ginny. Too perfect. Granted, I don’t know him well, but so far…”

“He’s perfect?”

“Yeah,” Hermione said softly. “I know that’s dumb.  _ No one  _ is perfect, and I’m sure that there are going to be things that piss me off or gross me out or whatever, but it’s just surreal how well he and I fit together. It’s like I’ve known him my entire life. I always thought that type of thing only happened in fiction. I mean listen to me, I’m positively gushing about him, and I’ve only known him for less than a day.”

“I think it’s sweet,” Ginny interrupted.

“Well, you would. God knows, if this works out and he and I stay married, you’ll take credit forever and ever.”

“You should write that down because it’s the truest thing you’ve ever said,” Ginny said with a laugh, making Hermione laugh along with her. “So, seriously,” Ginny said once they calmed down, “why is this bothering you? So, you like your husband? What’s the big deal?”

“Isn’t it too soon? I mean not that I’m going to jump into bed with him or anything,” Hermione said, though she knew  _ technically  _ they’d already shared a bed, “but shouldn’t I be more cautious or something?”

“Well, just get to know him. I don’t think it’s a bad thing that they matched you up so well. Just have fun with it. If it works out, that’s smashing. And if not, at least you got to shag a hot guy for a few months and then you can move on with your boring life.”

“Ginny…” Hermione growled. “I don’t need you putting these ideas in my head.”

“Like they weren’t already there,” Ginny said. Hermione just growled again. “So are we on for our normal lunch this week?”

“We have Saturdays free, so sure.”

“Good then. I’ve got to go, Noah is about due for his nap.”

“Give the little tyke a kiss for me.”

“Will do. Have fun, girl. And make sure you kiss that man soon.” With that, Ginny hung up and left Hermione shaking her head with a grin on her face.

Hermione put her phone back in her pocket and flushed the toilet. After washing her hands and face, she made her way back out into the main area of the flat. She found Harry reading a book. Always a sucker for books of any kind, Hermione sat next to him and peered closely at the book in her husband’s hands. A part of her noted they were really nice hands. 

“What’cha reading?” She eventually asked, not being able to make out the title or any text. It looks to be in some form of Chinese. Wait. Harry knew how to read Chinese?”

Harry grinned. “Who says I’m reading? Maybe I just like the pictures?”

“Well at least you admit it,” Hermione giggled. 

“It’s a book by a Chinese historian about the origins of the Han Dynasty.”

“And you can read it?”

“Yeah,” Harry said slowly. “I mean it's in Mandarin, but it's pretty easy to read. The translated version isn’t quite as good.”

“When did you learn Mandarin?” Hermione asked.

“High school and the first couple of years of college. I also spent a semester in Beijing.”

“Wow. You really are a smart person,” Hermione said, a little awed.

“Do you speak other languages?” Harry asked.

“German and French. A bit of Spanish, but I’m not fluent. So any others for you?”

“Italian, French, and Arabic, though I can only read the last one. Oh, and Latin.”

“Still, that’s very impressive.”

Harry blushed. “I knew I wanted to be a historian for a long time, so I knew I’d have to have a lot of languages under my belt. I started with French, then Italian. Once I started to get interested in certain periods of history, I started to focus on the older languages.”

“I’m kind of jealous. It sounds like you’ve traveled to more places than I have. I mean we’ve been to France a lot and Germany and Australia, but we’ve always chosen places where my dad can speak to people in English.”

“Your dad doesn’t speak another language?”

Hermione shook her head. “No. He’s terrible at it. My mum tried to teach him French, but he just bungles it. Not so much because he can’t learn the words, but he can’t get the pronunciation down. Like at all. It's hilarious.”

Harry laughed.

The two spent the rest of the afternoon in conversation. Hermione couldn’t get over just how easily she could talk to him. Not once did they stop to think that there were cameras filming everything.

-:::-

Fleur Delacour flopped down on the nearest couch and sighed deeply. Here she was, a married woman of just over a week, and already she was miserable. Well, not miserable, but definitely not happy. When she had heard about  _ Married at First Sight,  _ she had jumped at the opportunity. After all, she was a model, and any exposure was good exposure. And who cared if she had to get married to get herself on a national TV show? It’d be worth it!

Now, just a week after her wedding, Fleur was quite sure that it wasn’t, in fact, worth it at all. It had started out fine. The wedding was simple but quite beautiful, and her husband was handsome and successful. Just the type of man she would normally date.

But then they’d gotten to the flat that they’d spend the next six months in, and she found out that her husband was the most boring person she’d ever met. Who gave a shit about accounting practices? And Brad, her hubby, just couldn’t shut up about them. In the end, Fleur decided that she’d sleep with the dolt to see if he’d at least shut up while bringing her pleasure.

He had, but he left quite a lot to be desired in the bedroom, which for Fleur was a sure sign that she’d be signing divorce papers the minute the show stopped taping. Now she just had to get herself through five months and three weeks more of dealing with her dullard of a husband.

After escaping from their flat, Fleur decided that she’d spend some time in the common room of the flat building. It was meant as a place where the couples shooting the show could congregate and get to know each other. Fleur was sure that the producers would be quite peeved to see her down without her husband, but she didn’t care. The sex was so bad that Fleur wanted him to go back to talking about spreadsheets, so she knew she had to get out of the flat.

Fleur picked up one of the magazines that she found on the coffee table in front of the sofa and flipped through absently, thinking about what a terrible idea all of this had been. She was brought out of her misery by the sound of voices coming in through the open door.

“The library is going to be undergoing a major expansion next year, and I’m really excited about it,” a female voice was saying. Fleur rolled her eyes. Someone who was excited about a library was likely as dull as Brad.

“Oh? Another wing or just a new section?” a male voice asked. The voices were getting closer, and it seemed either the man was interested in what the woman was saying or he could fake it very well.

“It’s going to be a section dedicated to technology and technoliteracy, actually. New computers and such, and they’re going to invest in a new cataloging system too, so that’s going to be marvelous.”

“No more searching for things on cards then,” the man teased, causing the woman to laugh. The pair entered the common room, and Fleur was instantly attracted to the man. He was tall, broad-shouldered, and his eyes – which were trained on the woman walking next to him – were the most brilliant green she’d ever seen. The woman was attractive as well, but Fleur knew she’d be no competition at all.

“Oh, hello,” the woman said, addressing Fleur.

“Hello,” said Fleur, unable to take her eyes off the man.

-:::-

Hermione had to hold back the glare she knew was forming on her face. The woman was blatantly staring at Harry. It was so obvious, that Hermione was almost surprised that the woman wasn’t drooling.

“And you are?” She eventually prodded when it became clear the woman wasn’t going to introduce herself.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I’m Fleur. Fleur Delacour.” The woman answered in a French accent.

Hermione’s eyebrows shot up. “The model?”

“You know me?” Fleur asked, finally taking her eyes off of Harry.

“Sure. I’ve seen some of your work.”

“You’re a model?” Harry asked, his brows furrowed. Hermione wanted to elbow him. He looked much too interested. Instead, she settled for what she hoped was a discreet glare at her husband. He just looked back at her with confusion written on his face. Hermione rolled her eyes and looked away.

“Yes,” Fleur answered, giving Harry a dazzling smile. “I’ve been a model since I was 12 years old.”

“That’s interesting,” Hermione said. She could feel Harry’s eyes on her, no doubt wondering at the frost in her voice. Hermione just shook her head.

They’d come down to the common room to scope it out before they went out for dinner, thinking that it might give them a chance to say hello to some of their fellow couples. Now Hermione was regretting that.

“Are you on the show,” Harry asked.

“Yes, of course,” Fleur answered. “I was married off just a week ago. It’s been an experience.”

Hermione laughed and took Harry’s hand. “Indeed it has. We’ve only been married for a day, and it has definitely been interesting.”

“Only a day”? Fleur asked, her eyes showing her interest and something else that set off warning bells in Hermione’s head.

“Yup,” Harry answered with a grin, “Just a day, but it’s gone better than I thought it would.”

Hermione smiled up at him. “It definitely has.” She turned towards Fleur. “We’re going out, so it was good to meet you. Maybe next time we can meet your husband.”

With that Hermione all but dragged her own husband out the door and down the stairs. Harry followed her, but she could feel his eyes on her.

“Hermione?” Harry asked when they exited their building.

“Shut up,” Hermione said, squeezing his hand and leading him towards the taxi stand.

“Oookay.”

Hermione stopped walking and turned towards her husband, who was forced to come to a stop to avoid bumping into her. “I’m sorry.”

“What’s going on? You were pretty unfriendly back there.”

Hermione nodded. “Yes. I didn’t like the way she was looking at you. I was jealous.” Hermione blushed and looked away.

“Jealous?” Harry grinned. He let go of her hand and wrapped an arm around her waist, his most bold move with her yet.

“Yes,” Hermione answered, her blush deepening. “I know it’s dumb, I mean we’ve only just met, and I’m already,” she waved her hand for emphasis, “possessive of you.” She shrugged helplessly.

Harry grinned wider and pulled her closer so that she was flush against his chest. “I get it, you know? I wouldn’t like a bloke leering at you either.”

“Really?”

“Really.” With that, Harry brushed a kiss against her forehead and let her go. He took her hand and grinned at the deep red flush on her cheeks and the dreamy smile on her face. “I’m starving. Let’s get some food, and we can gossip about reasons why that Fleur girl was all alone.”

“She was, wasn’t she? Her husband must be horrid,” Hermione giggled as they started to walk again, this time at a slower pace.

The two laughed and bantered all the way to the restaurant they had chosen for dinner, mocking the girl they had just met and wondered about the other couples they were likely to meet during the next six months.

When they left the restaurant an hour and a half later, they were both grinning like fools and walking closer together than they ever had before. Harry’s arm was wrapped around Hermione’s waist again and she was leaning on him as they walked., Nothing had ever felt as natural to her before.

“It’s odd, you know?” Harry said suddenly.

“What’s odd?”

“How I feel about this,” Harry explained. “A day ago, I’d never met you. Now, we’re married and it feels like I’ve known you forever. It’s kind of...scary too, I guess. Nothing is supposed to be this easy. I mean, aren’t we supposed to be cautious around each other? Scared that we’re going to hurt each other or something?”

Hermione shrugged. “I don’t know. I’ve never had anything go like this before either. Ginny says that I should just enjoy it and go with the flow, or whatever. So I’m going to do that. Maybe this will lead to heartbreak or something just as terrible, but that’s not a reason not to enjoy myself. I really like you, Harry. I want to see where this goes. I thought yesterday that this would be a waste of six months of my life. I don’t think that anymore, and that’s a lot of progress for 24 hours.”

“I think it is too,” Harry said with a nod as he squeezed her tighter. “I’m actually really looking forward to the next six months now.”

Hermione smiled. “Me too.”

-:::-

**Week 1 (Tuesday)**

Their second night in bed together was less awkward than the first, Harry thought. He really enjoyed waking up with Hermione in his arms. He hadn’t ever felt that way before with any other girl, and it was terrifying, really.

After they had separated and had taken turns getting ready for the day, Harry had excused himself with the excuse that he wanted to get a jog in. He asked if she wanted to join him, but Hermione declined, saying that she wasn’t much for running. Harry decided he was fine with that since it allowed him to accomplish his real goal, which was to call Draco.

“You sound like you’re freaking out,” Malfoy said first thing. 

“I am, a bit,” Harry admitted. Harry and Draco had known each other their entire lives and were more brothers than friends, really. There wasn’t much that they hadn’t told each other. Harry knew all about Draco’s courtship with his wife – she had hated Malfoy with a passion while Draco had fallen in love with her right from the off – and he knew all about Harry’s utter failure at trying to find love, including his idiotic friends with benefits relationship with Tonks. 

“Why? Is she horrid? Nagging you already?”

“No. She’s wonderful.”

“Oookay?” Draco asked, drawing out the word. “Then what’s the problem?”

“I want to kiss her,” Harry blurted.

“Again, I ask, what’s the problem? Potter, you’re freaking  _ me _ out, now. Does she have some deformity that has prevented you from kissing her?”

“NO!” 

“Then what’s the problem?”

“Isn’t it, I don’t know, too soon?” Harry asked. “I mean, we only just met.”

“That hasn’t stopped you from wanting to shag other girls,” Draco said calmly. “You’ve picked up girls in pubs before and shagged them the same night.”

“You’re calling me a man-whore?” Harry asked challengingly.

“If the shoe fits, bro,” Draco said with a laugh. “Seriously, though, I don’t see a problem. You two are getting along well, right?”

“Yeah. It’s odd. It’s like I’ve known her for years. Before the wedding, I’d have said that I had no wish for this to work out in the end.”

“And now,” Malfoy asked when Harry paused. 

“Now,” Harry said, “I would be devastated if it  _ didn’t _ work out. Is that mad?”

Harry could almost see Draco shrugging. “It doesn’t have to be. Look at me with Astoria. I loved her the moment I saw her and I’ve never stopped. So you’ve fallen quick and hard for your  _ wife _ . That’s okay. I mean as long as you’re open and honest and all that nonsense. Are you worried about her feeling differently?”

“No. I think she’s feeling the same way, but she’s just as… scared of this as I am. At least I think so,” Harry answered. 

“Then kiss the girl,” Draco said. “The worst that could happen is she’ll turn her cheek and say she’s not ready. And talk to her. Or ask her or whatever. Girls like that talking shite.”

“Sage advice from the married man,” Harry teased. 

“Sod off. Astoria makes me talk. That woman is scary as fuck,” Draco snarled. Harry laughed but had to agree. Astoria Malfoy  _ nee _ Greengrass was a little woman who didn’t let her size stop her from being one of the most intimidating people Harry had ever met. 

“Alright, I’m going back. I still have to jog back to the flat.”

“Fine, go back to your wife. And Potter?”

“Yeah?”

“You’re married too, so stop giving me crap about being ‘the married man.’”

Harry grinned. “I guess I can’t do that anymore.”

“Nope. Now go away, I need to do things today.”

Harry laughed and hung the phone up. He felt a bit better now. He had come very close to kissing Hermione that morning in bed, and it  _ had  _ freaked him out a bit. Maybe now he could do it without it feeling like it was way too soon. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a.n. Not as long as I’d have liked it, but the next bit is their first official date, and then we start speeding things up a bit. And we get to some smut. And yes, Fleur will be in this story a bit. This will not, however, turn into a triad story. Also, this is about as ‘bashy’ as I’ll get with any character.   
> Reviews are welcome :)


	5. Love at First Sight is a Real Thing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Hermione go on their first date in front of the cameras.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know this is a bit late, my Garage Sale fic is kicking my ass. This chapter is tooth rotting fluff, as is most of this story, actually. I’ve done some more planning on this one and I think we’re about a third of the way done with the story at this point.   
> Also, I know Hermione’s character isn’t developed as much as Harry’s. That’s a mistake I intend to fix in the next chapter. We’ll learn more about her there. It’s not as well balanced as I had hoped but I got so into developing Harry’s backstory that I didn’t do as good a job with Hermione. That can’t stand, so I’ll fix it.   
> Thanks to Renny236 for being an awesome beta!

** Week 1 (Tuesday) **

When Hermione stepped out of their bedroom, Harry’s jaw literally dropped to the floor. His new wife was dressed in a little black dress that accentuated her curves while staying classy and made her legs look  _ fan-bloody-tastic.  _ Harry wouldn’t say it out loud but briefly the idea of those legs wrapped around his waist flew through his mind.

“Wow. You look fantastic,” Harry said as he stood up from the couch and walked towards her.

Hermione blushed but beamed at him. “Thanks. You clean up pretty nicely too.”

Harry just smiled back at her and grabbed her hand. “Are you ready for this? I’ll admit that I’m pretty nervous.”

“Me too. I’ve never had a date that was recorded before.”

“Well, I guess if we’re still together twenty years from now we can watch our first date together.”

Hermione laughed. “Something to show our grandkids.”

They locked up the flat behind them and made their way downstairs where they found a limo waiting for them.

The limo started to move. “Any idea where we’re having dinner?”

“No,” Hermione answered. “The producer didn’t say anything.”

“Hopefully they have something good to eat, I’m starving.”

“Me too.”

They sat in silence for several minutes, just enjoying each other’s company. When the limo finally stopped, they were both quite shocked at where they had ended up. _La Cirque_ was the most famous restaurant in all of London. It was run by the notoriously bad-tempered Mormon Gamsey, who while a fantastic cook, was also a notorious bastard.

“Wow. I wonder how they got him to shut his restaurant down for a night for us?” Hermione said. “He doesn’t seem like the type who would want to participate in a show like this.”

“Yeah. Well, at least the food will be good.”

Hermione huffed and took his arm. “You are such a man!”

Harry laughed and led her towards the front door, “I can’t help I think with my stomach.”

The restaurant was very posh. Harry, as an Earl, had been to many different posh places in his life. He was fairly used to dining at expensive restaurants. From the look on her face, Hermione wasn’t used to such a thing.

“Wow. I’m pretty sure I’d never be able to afford coming here on my own,” she said, her awe obvious in her voice. “Even the cameras all around don’t detract from how upscale this seems.”

“And Gamsey just got a huge bit of advertisement from you,” Harry teased, squeezing her hand and leading her towards the Maitre’d.

“Good evening, Lord and Lady Potter,” the man, who was dressed in a tuxedo, greeted them. “Your table has been prepared. Please follow me.”

Harry, with Hermione tightly holding his arm, followed the Maitre’d along towards a fairly secluded part of the restaurant. While there had been two cameramen around them since they had left their flat, there were now just pre-positioned cameras pointed at the table they had been led to. Harry suspected that it was so that there was at least an illusion of privacy, for which he was thankful. Though he didn’t think that they would forget about the cameras at any point during the evening.

Harry held out a chair for Hermione and then took a seat himself.

“Your waitress will be with you momentarily to take your appetizer orders and then our sommelier will be by with this evening’s wine choices.”

Harry and Hermione thanked the man, and then sat in silence. Eventually, Harry broke through it and said, “Have you watched any of his shows?”

“A few. He’s funny, but I don’t really have a lot of time for television shows.”

Harry nodded. “So, we’ve talked about traveling and such things, tell me more about you.”

“What would you like to know?” Hermione asked.

“Everything,” Harry answered with a grin.

Hermione laughed. “Okay. Well, I grew up in Crawley where my parents still live. My parents own a small dentistry office there. Growing up I was a...well, I was a nerd. I spent all my time reading and I didn’t really have any friends until secondary when I met Ginny.”

“Ginny’s the redhead, right?” Harry asked.

“ Yeah. One day I was on my way to the library after class and she was running through the halls and knocked me over. She wasn’t very nice to me. She shouted ‘Watch where you’re going!’ and then started to run off again. I’d had a really bad day. One of the school bullies had pushed me around at lunch and had stolen my lunch money and ruined my favorite book and I’d had quite enough. So I shouted back at her and told her that she was a bitch and that she should watch where  _ she  _ was going.” Hermione laughed. “We’ve been friends ever since. I asked her a few years ago why me shouting back at her made her befriend me, and she said she liked how feisty I was.”

“I don’t know her, but I know other redheads, so I presume she’s pretty feisty herself?”

“Oh, yeah. Our entire friendship pretty much resolves around us picking at each other, but I wouldn’t trade it for the world. After she befriended me, the bullies left me alone and I stopped relying so much on my books.”

Her story was interrupted by the waitress stopping by their table. “Are you ready to order?”

Hermione blushed while Harry looked at the waitress sheepishly. “We’ve not had a chance to take a look at the menu. Can you give us a few more minutes?”

The woman smiled warmly and nodded before leaving them once again.

“I guess we should see what he has to offer?” Harry asked.

Hermione nodded and picked up her menu.

A few minutes later, they’d placed their order and were back chatting amiably.

“So what about you? It must have been interesting growing up as the heir to an Earldom.”

“It was,” Harry answered, taking a sip of water that he’d poured from the pitcher on the table. “But it wasn’t the same as I think it would be for any other heir. Sirius was not… shall we say, well-groomed? for his position, so he wasn’t the best teacher of what I’d have to do as an Earl. He doesn’t take his role as the Earl of Blackmoor very seriously because it’s a landless title and has been for centuries.”

“That meant something for the House of Lords, right?”

“Right. At one point it would have meant he couldn’t have a seat there. The Gryffindor title had a seat prior to 2010 when everything became elected. I don’t really have any interest in recent politics, though, so it doesn’t matter to me. Anyways, Sirius has never been able to do anything with a straight face, so he raised me to be a prankster for the first year or so after my parents died. Then I got sick.”

“Sick?”

“Yeah. I was diagnosed with osteosarcoma.”

“Bone cancer?”

Harry nodded. “Yeah. I was pretty sick for a while. That pretty much caused Sirius to grow up and start raising me properly. It took a few years and lots of doctors, but eventually, the cancer went into remission, and Sirius brought in tutors to help me. After that, he was more strict and made sure I did my best in class, and he started to teach me more about my family. It’s why I decided to become a historian, it kind of runs in the family.”

Hermione nodded. “You’ve not had any health problems since then? I mean major ones?”

“No. The cancer seems to be gone for good, thank God.” Harry took another sip of his water. Deciding to change the subject, Harry asked, “So you write fanfiction. Do you want to do anything original?”

“Sure, though I've never been published or anything. I wanted to become a writer and maybe I’m okay at it, but I’ve never had the confidence to actually send anything original to a publisher. Ginny and Luna have tried to get me to contact an agent or something, but I’m happy with where I’m at in life.”

“Tell me about one of your stories. If you want to, that is.”

“I’ll let you read one later if you want. I wrote an original story about a female mob boss who was forced into the role for NaNoWriMo last year.”

“That sounds really interesting, so like she was just an average member of the family and then she’s the boss?”

Hermione laughed. “Yeah. And she spends the entire story trying to take her family legitimate and along the way meets this writer who wants to get the inside scoop. They fall in love and he helps her with ideas to make sure the family stays on the right side of the law.”

“That kind of sounds fantastic. Is that the one you’re going to let me read?”

“Sure. I have it on my laptop.”

“Awesome.”

Their dinners came then, and along with them came Mormon Gamsey himself.

“I hope you enjoy your dinners,” he said in his posh British accent. Harry almost expected the man to start swearing at them and telling them to hurry up and to ‘GET OUT!” but he didn’t. It was weird seeing him be so nice, honestly.

“I’m sure we will,” Hermione said, blushing a bit. Harry quirked an eyebrow at her, but she just smiled and picked up her wine, which had been delivered to their table by a tuxedo-wearing sommelier.

Gamsey wished them well again, smiled at the cameras, which Harry had completely forgotten about, and then walked away.

“So, do we have a bit of a crush on Mr. Gamsey?” Harry teased.

“No,” Hermione replied curtly.

Harry laughed at her flushed cheeks. “I’m jealous now.”

“Shut up.”

Harry just laughed harder.

-:::-

Their meal was excellent. As time went on, they talked about their time in school and about their chosen careers, more about their friends and family, and exchanged several entertaining stories from their pasts.

Hermione couldn’t help but feel like she’d known Harry for her entire life. She’d never before found someone she was so comfortable with right from the start. It was both unsettling and immensely comfortable, which was an odd way of feeling. She thought that she should be more cautious about him, but she couldn’t find it in her to do so.

As they left the restaurant, they were still giggling together over a story Harry had told her about the time he had pranked his friend Draco with an albino ferret.

“I can’t believe you did that!” Hermione exclaimed as they stopped in front of the limo. “What did he do?”

“Oh, he didn’t talk to me for months after that,” Harry laughed. “And he still won’t talk about ferrets, and if Sirius or I bring it up, he gets very mad. He also loses color, which is saying something, because Draco is pale as an Englishman can get.”

The driver opened the door to the limo. Harry helped Hermione into her seat, then slid in behind her.

“Well, if I woke up with a ferret on my pillow, I’d probably not speak to you for months either.”

Harry just smirked at her. “I would never rerun a prank. Only original pranks are funny.”

“If you say so,” Hermione replied skeptically. “So, can you dance?”

“I guess we’re about to find out,” Harry quipped. “I haven’t done much dancing in my life, to tell you the truth. We’ve gone to a few events over the years, but I usually avoid the dance floor.”

“Well, I’m glad my shoes are comfortable then,” Hermione said with a smile.

“I’ll do my best to keep my feet to myself.”

Hermione laughed. They held hands and joked the entire journey to the club  that had been rented for them .

-:::-

The club that the show had sent them to was actually quite crowded with people. Unlike the restaurant that had been rented out for the show’s purpose, the club was open for normal business. This meant that the camera guys, who Harry found were actually very discreet, were floating around them with smaller cameras, trying to keep from bumping into other patrons. The cameras did get a fair bit of attention, at least until the club made an announcement about the show, asking people to act as normally as possible.

It was a very odd situation, but Harry decided that he would continue to ignore the cameras as much as possible. 

Harry pulled Hermione closer as they swayed on the dance floor. He wasn’t a great dancer, but he wasn’t embarrassing himself or hurting her. As they danced, Harry thought back over the last three days. He’d gotten married to a complete stranger. Even as soon as the ride to their new flat that first night, Harry had suspected that he was going to have a hard time not feeling something for his new wife.

And then their conversations since then and everything about her just drew him to her like a moth to a flame. He knew he was falling in love with this woman if he hadn’t already fallen hard, and that was messing with his brain. Draco’s advice had helped, but Harry still felt like this was moving WAY too fast. Yet he wanted nothing more than to spend the rest of his life with the woman in his arms.

After three days, that was a scary thought.

“What are you thinking?” Hermione whispered into his ear. They were about the same height once Hermione had heels on, so her head was resting on his shoulder. There was no space between them, neither feeling uncomfortable about that fact.

“I’m thinking about how crazy the last few days have been,” Harry said. He took a deep breath. “I’m thinking it’s crazy to be feeling like this after so short a time.”

Hermione lifted her head and looked him in the eyes. “Like what?”

“Like I’ve known you my entire life. Like I...Like I want to stay married no matter what.”

Hermione just smiled at him, then leaned in and pressed her mouth against his. Shocked, Harry froze for a moment before kissing her back. It wasn’t a passionate kiss, really nothing more than a press of their lips together, but it felt like his entire body was lit up from the inside. Slowly he pulled back, his eyes wide.

“W-what?”

“I feel the same way, Harry. It’s crazy, but…” Hermione swallowed, but her warm eyes never left his. “I feel that too.”

Harry couldn’t help it. He kissed her again. He kissed his wife again. Who knew love at first sight was really a thing?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, this was meant to have more to it, so I know this is a much shorter chapter than normal, but this felt like a really good place to end it. Next chapter we start moving things along a lot faster.  
> Reviews are like cookies. This author loves cookies. And reviews. Also, now I want cookies. Damn.


	6. A Wee Bit of Jealousy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Hermione have a good night and then learn some more about each other's pasts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a.n. Here’s the next chapter. This is my favorite so far. It’s good.
> 
> Just a note: Originally I had the show running for six months. That is not going to be the case any longer. It will run for 8 weeks. I’ll go back and change the previous chapters to reflect this, but it doesn’t affect the plot much, just the length of the story.
> 
> Thanks to Renny236 for being an awesome beta!

**Week One (Wednesday)**

They snogged most of the night. In some small way, Hermione had wanted to go all the way with her husband after the wonderful night they’d had, but she figured that they both knew it was too soon for them to make love.

Despite that, Hermione figured that it was only a matter of time before they decided that they couldn’t hold back any longer. As it was, by the time they had finally stopped the snogging, Hermione had been so ready to fuck his brains out that she’d had to get out of bed and go into the bathroom for a few minutes to calm down.

She’d never been so worked up from simple kisses before. Not even with Nick, who she had thought was the ‘one’, had she been so aroused by being kissed. It made her doubt her feelings for her former boyfriend.

When she woke up, Hermione’s head was lying on her husband’s chest. She looked up, resting her chin on her hand, watching as he slept. He was very handsome, that was for sure. Comparing Nick and Harry wasn’t even possible. Nick had been more homely than Harry with his round face and shaggy blonde hair; Harry’s face was more classically handsome. He’d be what her college friends would term ‘hot.’

Had she loved Nick? They’d been broken up for eight months, and Hermione had been destroyed by his betrayal for a long time. So much so that she had given up on finding someone to love. This attempt on a reality TV show had only come about because Ginny had literally not taken no for an answer. 

Hermione had expected nothing to come out of it. That she’d fallen in love with the man she’d only met three days before was both shocking and terrifying. Because she was in love. With Harry. After three days.

And Hermione was positive Harry felt the same way.

It was the most insane feeling she’d ever felt, and Hermione wasn’t sure what to do about it. They still had  weeks  to go on this TV show. What happened if she fell out of love with Harry just as fast as she fell in love with him?

Just the thought of their marriage ending hurt, even if it had only been three days.

Hermione watched as Harry slowly woke up.

“Good morning,” he rasped out. “Did you sleep well?”

Hermione nodded. “Yes. I’m very relaxed. Too bad we can’t just stay here all day.”

“Dinner with your parents tonight,” Harry agreed. “I’m looking forward to it. Maybe I can get them to tell me some embarrassing stories about my wife.”

Hermione slapped his chest lightly. “Don’t you dare. Not that my dad would betray me like that anyways.” Hermione paused for a moment. “Hopefully.”

Harry laughed and pulled her up a bit and kissed her soundly. Hermione moaned. She didn’t care that they had morning breath or that she had been so comfortable on his chest. All that mattered were his lips on hers and the play of his tongue as it tangled with hers.

Slowly she pulled back and stared into his emerald eyes. “Good morning.”

-:::-

A half-hour later they were sitting at the breakfast table when Hermione decided that they should learn more about each other. Harry had cooked for them again. This time bacon, eggs, and hashbrowns along with orange juice and breakfast tea.

“Have you ever had a serious relationship before, Harry?”

Harry paused, his fork halfway to his mouth, and looked over at her, his eyes a bit wide. Then he took a deep breath and sat his fork down. “No. At least not one that was truly going anywhere. I had a girlfriend for a couple of years while doing my undergrad work, but it was never anything serious. After I started my graduate work, I was shag buddies with a family friend. That lasted a couple of years.”

“You sound a bit bitter about that.”

Harry shrugged. “I wanted more. By the time the second year rolled around, I was quite smitten with Tonks, and I told her. She let me down gently, but it still hurt. It’s only been a few months since that.”

“I can see how that would hurt,” Hermione said, grabbing his hand from her spot across from him. “Tell me about her.”

Harry sighed. Hermione wondered if it was only her imagination or if he really did look a little wistful. Was he still hung up on this girl?

“Tonks was amazing. She’s a few years older than me, and I followed her around like a lovesick puppy when I was younger. I always imagined that she thought of me like a brother, but one night a couple of years ago, we got drunk and ended up in bed together. She told me then that all we could have was a physical relationship. I was just dumb enough to develop feelings for her despite that warning.

“She just always came across as this bigger than life personality. I think that was why I was so taken with her even as a young boy. She has bright pink hair most of the time, and she almost always keeps it spiky. It’s so cool. And she wears these rock band t-shirts and faded jeans, and always talks about music and movies. Honestly, I think I’ll always be a bit in awe of her. I’m a nerd and I love to read and talk about history in online chat rooms. And then comes along this hot girl who is into punk rock bands and movies, and she wants me. I don’t know how I was supposed to not fall in love with her.”

Harry took a sip of tea and asked, “What about you? Any former boyfriends that I’m going to have to worry about?”

Hermione laughed, though inside she was even more worried about her husband’s seeming infatuation with his former lover. “I doubt any of my exes will be coming back around to fight you for my hand. But yes, I’ve had a couple of serious relationships. The last one was probably the most serious. I was pretty sure that I wanted to spend the rest of my life with Nick. We met at University and we hit it off right from the start. It was crazy. We had so much in common and it just seemed written in the stars.” Hermione paused and took a drink of her orange juice and poked at her breakfast. “I was sure he was about to propose. Then about eight months ago, I walked into the flat I had been sharing with him for a year and found him shagging some bimbo in our bed.”

“Oh, Hermione, that’s terrible. Did you kick him in the balls?”

“No,” Hermione giggled. “I should have. No, I just left. Later on, I confronted him and we broke up. It really hurt though, you know. I really loved him. I had all these stupid plans. I wanted to get married and move into a small house in Crawley, near my parents, and then have a couple of kids while working on my novels. Then it was just over. It was such a shock to my system and I was so hurt, I was sure after that that I would never want to fall in love again. Why do so when it would only hurt in the end? It’s another reason why I had no real interest in making this show a success.”

“I understand,” Harry said, intertwining his fingers with hers. “Marriage wasn’t ever really something I thought about with my previous girlfriends. I’m not the womanizer my godfather wanted me to be, I guess, though he was happy when Tonks and I started sleeping around because he thought it meant I was becoming more promiscuous.”

“Why did he want you to sleep around?” Hermione asked, confused.

Harry laughed. “Because he wanted me to have a harem.”

“No!”

“Yup,” Harry replied, popping the ‘p.’ “He’s been telling me since I was young enough to know the difference between girls and boys that I was going to have a harem and that I’d be happy about it.”

“Your godfather is weird.”

“Yes,” Harry agreed, seriously. “I can’t wait for you to really spend some time with him. You’re going to either love him or want to smack him.”

“When do we have dinner at your place?”

“I don’t know. I’d guess that it is one of the official outings next week. I know we have another meeting with producers this afternoon before we set out for your parent’s house.”

-:::-

Later that day, producers asked them to each take some time with the selfie stick to talk face to face with the camera about their week one experiences with each other. They were asked to do this separately, though Hermione didn’t know what the rationale behind that was.

For her, it was hard to come up with something to talk about. In the few episodes of the show that Ginny had forced her to watch in the run-up to Hermione’s appearance on the show, she knew that most of these candid shots were used to complain about the person’s spouse.

Hermione didn’t have anything to complain about. They hadn’t been living with one another long enough to know if Harry had any horrid habits and outside of that, they seemed to fit together almost like they had been made for one another.

As creepy as that still sounded.

Still, it was a part of their contract, so about an hour before she had to start getting ready for dinner, she grabbed her phone and the selfie stick and decided to take it for a walk like she had seen some YouTubers do.

“It’s freaking me out how much I feel for him,” Hermione started out, feeling silly talking into her phone without anyone on the other end. “It’s only been a few days and already I’m in love with him. I’m not going to tell him yet, though. That’d be silly.  Probably scare the poor man right back to his sexy ex-girlfriend. ”

Hermione took a breath.

“The way he described his last girlfriend made me think that he still has feelings for her. That scares me too. Why would he want to stay with me when he could go back and be with someone he has known his entire life? It isn’t as if he has some great attachment to me, even if he cares about me.”

It was true. The way Harry had described this ‘Tonks’ person had rooted itself right into Hermione’s insecurities, though until right this moment, she hadn’t really thought much about it. Just the tone that Harry had used when describing the woman made Hermione uncomfortable.

“I hope it doesn’t come between us, but I wouldn’t be surprised. It’s another reason not to tell him about my feelings for him until I know for sure that he feels the same.”

Hermione sighed. “I’m looking forward to dinner with my parents. They weren’t at all happy with my decision to do this, especially my mum. I hope they like Harry as much as I do.”

Hermione decided that was enough for now. She had already said much more than she had planned on, so she quickly ended the recording and disassembled the selfie stick, then walked back to their flat.

On the way there, she bumped into Fleur, the woman they had talked to the day before, and her husband. The two were walking as far apart from each other as they could while still walking together. Hermione wondered why the French beauty wasn’t enthralled with her new husband. The man was very handsome and seemed to be very taken with his wife. 

“Oh, hello,” Hermione greeted.

“Hello,” Fleur said. “Where is Harry?”

Hermione scowled. This woman’s infatuation with Hermione’s husband was not something that Hermione was willing to stomach. “He’s upstairs. I just got done using the silly selfie stick.”

“Oh, isn’t that thing wonderful?” Fleur gushed. “I just love using it. I have one for myself to talk to my Instagram followers. So much fun.”

“Right,” Hermione agreed, wondering how the woman functioned with so much air between her ears. Deciding that she needed to extricate herself, Hermione wished Fleur goodbye -- or at least she tried to.

“You and Harry should come to dinner with us next week,” Fleur offered. “It will be fun to do something outside of the schedule for the show. They might even want to tape it!”

Hermione nearly groaned. “I’ll ask Harry to see if he’s interested. I should take the selfie stick back upstairs. Harry will need to use it before we leave tonight.”

With that, Hermione rushed upstairs as quickly as she could. Was this how it was always going to be? Her worrying that there was some sexy woman out there just waiting to snag her husband?

-:::-

Harry thought that the selfie stick would be fun if he didn’t have to use it. Sirius had forced him – on pain of a prank war – to sit and watch a whole season of  _ Married at First Sight _ , so Harry knew quite a bit about how the selfie stick portions of the show worked. Mostly they were used for one person to bitch about their new significant other.

A lot of time about how terrible their spouse was in bed or about the horrible habits their spouse had.

Harry hadn’t had sex with Hermione, but he was pretty sure that not only would he have no complaints, but that he wouldn’t want to air any complaints he did have. And he hadn’t lived with Hermione long enough to know if she had any horrid habits, though he expected that the few she did have he’d be able to live with.

After all, he was in love with her. Three days later. For fuck’s sake. Who knew his life would turn out like this? In love with and married to a stranger on a nationally televised reality show. Harry didn’t know if he wanted to hug Sirius for getting him into this or kill him as slowly as possible. With ants and pairing knives. 

Once Hermione had disappeared into their bedroom to get ready for their dinner, Harry grabbed his phone and the selfie stick and headed out, thinking he might as well do the same as his wife had and take a walk.

‘This is dumb,’ Harry thought as he started the recording. He didn’t know what to say, so he said the first thing that came to mind.

“Hermione’s in love with her ex-boyfriend.” It had been bothering him since they had their talk about their ex’s, though he hadn’t realized how much until right this moment. “Just the way she talked about him told me that she’s not over him.”

It was disheartening, honestly, to know that she still held deep feelings for the bastard who cheated on her. Harry didn’t think for a minute that she was going to run back to her ex, but it still made him uncomfortable. If she still had such feelings for her ex-boyfriend, how could she return Harry’s feelings? Was it unfair to want her to return his feelings after three measly days? Harry didn’t know the answers to those questions.

“I’m not worried about her going back to her ex, but she still has feelings for him.” Harry sighed. “What do I do about it, though? I don’t think I can do anything other than keep getting to know her and see if we continue to get closer.”

“I also wonder what she’ll do when she discovers Nikki. I haven’t had the chance to tell her about Nikki yet, and I’m a little scared to do so. Nikki means the world to me. How do I even go about explaining  _ that _ situation? It’s going to be a complete and total mess, and it will only get worse the more time I wait. Damn.”

It wasn’t that Harry had forgotten Nikki, she was always on his mind and had been since she had come into his life, but he had decided to keep her out of the spotlight of the show. Adding in that entire situation to a reality TV show was just asking for trouble. But then he hadn’t planned on falling in love with the woman he’d been matched up with.

That changed everything. Everything. And because of that, Hermione would eventually need to know about Nikki.

Fuck.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a.n.2. I know, I know. The biggest question y’all have is: What are the Grangers going to serve for dinner? Am I right? BWAH HAHA HA! Don’t worry, you’ll find out in the next chapter. Also, you’ll find out who Nikki is. Soon, though not in the next chapter. Like two or three chapters from now. Sorry, not sorry. You guys didn’t think I’d be able to write this without some kind of conflict, did you?
> 
> Reviews feed the monster.


	7. Dinner at Granger Place

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry and Hermione have dinner with the Grangers. Drama Ensues.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here’s a chapter for October. Dinner with the Grangers
> 
> Just a note: Originally I had the show running for six months. That is not going to be the case any longer. It will run for 8 weeks. I’ll go back and change the previous chapters to reflect this, but it doesn’t affect the plot much, just the length of the story.
> 
> Thanks to Renny236 for being an awesome beta!
> 
> I don’t own Harry Potter.

** Week One (Wednesday Evening) **

Hermione and Harry knocked on the door to Granger Place – as Hermione said it was cheekily called – at precisely 8 PM. Hermione was nervous, though she did her best not to show it. She was quite looking forward to their dinner, and maybe a conversation with her mother, but she also knew her father was going to embarrass her.

It was guaranteed.

“Hermione!” Her mother exclaimed as she answered the door. Hermione had to keep herself from rolling her eyes. She knew that the camera crew had been at the house for at least an hour, so there was no way her mother was surprised at their appearance.

“Good evening, Mother,” Hermione greeted. “You remember Harry.”

“Yes, of course,” Helen said with what Hermione knew to be a fake smile. She watched as her mother shook Harry’s hand before quickly letting go. “Come in, come in. I’m sure the two of you are hungry. Dinner is about a half-hour away. We’re set up in the sitting room while we wait.”

Hermione grasped Harry’s hand and gave him an apologetic look. He just smiled back at her and took the first step into her childhood home, leading her in with him. She admired his courage.

The first things she noticed were the cameramen and the camera pointed at them. Hermione wanted to ignore them - after all, it had worked wonders during their first televised date - but this time the cameras seemed so out of place she had a hard time looking past them. Luckily, Harry seemed to know that she was having a hard time and gave her hand a squeeze.

They followed her mother into the sitting room, which her parents used much more often than the main living room because of its more intimate nature. Helen immediately excused herself to the kitchen to see to the oven.

“Hermione,” Her father greeted her, standing up from where he had been sitting on the sofa. Hermione hugged him, allowing herself to enjoy her father’s embrace. When she pulled away from her father, she was shocked to see another person in the room.

_ Emily. _

Hermione had completely forgotten that her bloody snooty sister was going to be in town for the show. Not that she’d been invited. Emily had the audacity to invite herself.

“ _ I’m not going to miss the chance to be on TV, even if it’s just to mock you.” _

Hermione nearly groaned. This was going to be a disaster. She hadn’t even told Harry that she  _ had  _ a sister. She had been really lucky that her older sister hadn’t had a chance to attend her wedding or Hermione knew that the torture would have already started.

She and Emily had never gotten along. They were completely different and just rubbed each other the wrong way. Emily was athletic, popular, and outgoing while Hermione was bookish, unpopular, and tended to like being alone. The few friends that Hermione _had_ made were all ones that had come to her through her friendship with Ginny Weasley.

Hermione could admit that for most of her life she had been intensely jealous of Emily. Her sibling might not be as smart, but she was beautiful with long brown hair that wasn’t the bird’s nest that Hermione had to put up with. She had a gorgeous face that wouldn’t look out of place in a magazine and she had a body most men would drool over. Add on top of that Emily had a personality which seemed to allow her to make friends easily -- it was enough to make Hermione very self-conscious about everything in her own life.

Because of their differences, their interactions were always fractious. They argued incessantly, and usually about the most idiotic things. Emily thought Hermione was a prudish little bookworm while Hermione was quite happy to call her sister a stuck up bitch.

It drove their parents batty.

“Emily,” Hermione greeted through gritted teeth. She turned to Harry. “Harry, this is my older sister, Emily. Emily, this is Lord Harry Potter, my husband.”

Harry smiled down at her sister, which caused Hermione to want to punch him in the shoulder. She wasn’t going to allow all her old jealousies to cause her to ruin their night. This was going to be hard enough without all of that nonsense.

“It’s nice to meet you,” Harry said kindly. “I didn’t even know Hermione had a sister.”

“Oh?” Emily said, standing up from the sofa where she had been sitting. “Well, it’s nice to meet you too. I’m so very sorry that I wasn’t able to come to the wedding.”

“That’s fine,” Hermione cut through. She led Harry over to a love seat and almost pulled him down on top of her in her quest to get him as far away from her sister as possible.

Harry looked at her strangely but thankfully didn’t say anything. Hermione saw her father scowling at her, but she put him off with a shake of her head.

“So, how’s everything going?” Robert asked as he retook his seat.

Hermione could see Harry looking at her from the corner of her eye, but she couldn’t meet his gaze. Suddenly this all seemed wrong. What the hell was she doing here? She couldn’t be  _ in love  _ with some guy just a couple of days after meeting him. That was impossible. It was nonsense.

All those feelings that she had been experiencing over the last few days seemed so unreal now that she was back here amongst her family. Hermione found that she was even more confused about the whole thing than she had been, and she just knew that her parents and her dumb sister were going to judge her for falling too hard too fast.

Hermione sighed. “It’s going well. Or as well as can be expected.”

She felt Harry tense, but after she squeezed his hand, he relaxed. Hermione didn’t want to hurt him but she wasn’t going to talk about her feelings out here in the open, especially not in front of her sister. It was all too much.

“Well, that’s good,” her dad responded cautiously.

“Tell us about the first date. You’ve already been on that. They always have the couples go to really swanky restaurants,” Emily said. Hermione did her best not to glare at her sister for having the audacity to talk.

“It was swanky,” Harry said, giving her hand a squeeze. “But it was really quite good. I’d never had the opportunity to dine at a Mormon Gamsey restaurant before.”

Emily gasped. “Mormon Gamsey? Wow, they really went all out this time. Did you meet him?”

“Yes,” Hermione answered. “He talked with us for a few minutes.”

“Mormon Gamsey is that angry guy on TV, right?” Robert asked, looking between his daughters.

“Yeah. He screams a lot. And swears, too. Anthony really likes that show,” Emily said fondly. Hermione rolled her eyes. Anthony Goldstein was Emily’s off and on again boyfriend for the last 10 years. Hermione knew that Anthony was in love with Emily, but she would always break up with him whenever the relationship got too serious in order to play the field again, most often running right back to Anthony when she was done. It was yet another reason why Hermione didn’t like her sister all that much.

Then again, Hermione was the one who went and got herself hitched on a TV show, so she decided that she wasn’t the best example of relationship responsibility.

After that there was silence. Awkward silence. Hermione didn’t know how to break it up. She wasn’t sure she wanted to.

“So you’re a Lord,” Emily asked finally.

Harry nodded. “Yes. I’m the 19th Earl of Gryffindor.”

“Does that mean you’re in the House of Lords?”

“No,” Harry said with a laugh. “Not anymore. My family used to be, but automatic inclusion isn’t something that Britain does anymore.”

“Oh. Well, that sucks.”

Harry laughed again. “I wouldn’t have been any good at it anyway. My knowledge of politics is all 2000 years out of date.”

“What does that mean?” Robert asked.

“I’m a doctoral student studying history.”

“Oh, that’s cool. Where are you studying?”

“Oxford, actually. I received my undergrad there too.”

“Wow, Mr. Fancy Pants,” Emily seemed to sneer. Hermione decided that Emily was going to get an earful just as soon as the cameras were off. No one sneered at her husband.

And just like that, the feelings that she had been so confused about just a few minutes earlier were confused no more. Hermione knew she was in love with her husband, and even being in this – the most uncomfortable of environments – wasn’t going to change that. She really needed to talk to her mum.

“Oxford has the reputation of being stuffy,” Harry tried to explain. “But it’s really not that bad. It’s not even the most exclusive University in Great Britain. What do you do, Emily?”

“I work at a marketing agency,” she responded. Hermione wanted to snort. She was having a really hard time controlling her usual reactions to her sister’s nonsense. Emily worked for Harrod’s. Sure she was in the ‘marketing’ department, but she was actually a secretary and not a very good one. Hermione didn’t have anything against secretaries. She herself had an assistant who was wonderful. But Emily was a terrible secretary. She was always late, wasn’t a fast typist, and was often written up for insubordination. She’d had at least six jobs as a secretary in the last four years and Hermione knew this latest one wouldn’t last either.

“Oh? That sounds fascinating,” Harry said kindly.

Hermione smirked. She’d be telling Harry all about her sister later and wondered if Harry would think it was so fascinating when he knew the truth.

Apparently, Emily saw the smirk because she started to scowl. “Well, it’s better than working in a stuffy library,” she said snidely.

Harry gripped Hermione’s hand tightly, obviously picking up on Hermione’s near instinctual need to retort. “I love libraries, but then I’m a stuffy historian so I’ve spent my fair share of time between the stacks.”

Emily was silent at that, but Hermione could tell that the evening was just going to be  _ wonderful _ . Thankfully, her mother came in and saved Emily from formulating a response.

“Dinner is ready.”

-:::-

Dinner was silent at first. Emily was glaring at Hermione. Hermione was doing her best to ignore it. Her father was glaring at both of them. He had never had the patience for the rivalry between his two daughters and Hermione knew it. She tried to do her best not to aggravate things, but Emily knew all the buttons to push to get her riled up.

Eventually, Helen broke the silence. “So, Harry, tell us about yourself.”

“Uh, okay,” Harry said after swallowing a bite of pork roast. “Well, let’s see. I’m a doctoral student. I’m about a year, maybe a year and a half away, from receiving my doctorate. I was raised by my Godfather and his partner. Uh…I like to read, play basketball, and I love to travel.”

Harry shrugged his shoulders, clearly uncomfortable about talking about himself.

“Have you been married before?” Emily asked.

Harry laughed. “No. Marriage wasn’t really something I’d thought of.”

“So why did you want to be on this show?” Helen asked. “Hermione has told us why she decided to do it.”

“I’m kind of in a similar position actually. My Godfather pranked me into it. It wasn’t my idea and honestly, if he would have let me, I’d have refused to sign the contract.” He looked over at Hermione. “I’m glad he tricked me into it, though.”

Hermione watched as her parents exchanged a look.

“Oh?” Robert asked. “Why’s that?”

“I’m quite glad that I met your daughter, sir. I don’t know where all this will lead,” Harry responded with a shrug. “But it’s been wonderful so far. We have a lot in common, and I’ve honestly never found someone who is so easy to talk to before.”

Hermione beamed at him and grabbed his hand underneath the table. Harry smiled back at her. They stared at each other for a long time, or at least it seemed like it to Hermione. It was so easy to just completely forget that they weren’t alone in their new flat. They were eventually brought out of their mutual admiration by her father clearing his throat.

“Well, that’s very nice. It’s good that the two of you’re getting along.”

The rest of the dinner was just as awkward, but the conversation flowed a little better. Emily was very silent, which was probably why Hermione felt more comfortable. They talked a bit about the flat that they had been put in, about their experience on their first official date, and how they were coping with being on camera.

“It’s not something that we really notice most of the time,” Hermione answered. “The only time it’s bothersome is when it’s obvious like now.”

“I agree. I don’t think about it at all while we’re in the flat. The selfie thing was odd, though,” Harry said.

Hermione laughed and squeezed his hand. They’d all just finished eating and were waiting for a few minutes before desert. “That’s so true. It was the silliest thing I’ve ever done.”

“Really, that can’t be true,” Emily said snidely. “You were such a silly little girl.”

“Oh?” Harry asked. “Do you have stories? I’d love to hear more about how Hermione was as a little girl.”

Hermione poked him. “None of that.”

“Oh, come on, please?” Harry pouted. “I love stories about you.”

Hermione blushed and buried her head in her hands.

“I’ve got a few good ones,” Robert said happily.

Hermione groaned.

“When she was eight, she fell out of the tree in the backyard. She was so sure she could climb it. After all, Emily had done it so often. These two were always so competitive with each other right from their youngest years,” Robert said with both fondness and exasperation in his voice. “Anything that Emily could do, Hermione thought that she could do better and vice versa. That tree was old even when our family moved into this house and those branches were not meant for anyone to climb them. Em, you got into trouble so often for climbing out there.”

“I got in trouble for Hermione doing it too,” Emily bitched. Hermione smirked.

“Yes you did,” Helen said, smiling at her eldest daughter. “It was your job to watch out for your little sister.”

“Humpf,” Emily said, crossing her arms across her chest.

“So anyway, Hermione falls out of the tree, predictably, and then she just cries and cries for about five minutes. We got her calmed down but then,” Robert laughed, “Instead of getting herself up so we could get her to emergency, she got up and walked over to the tree and said ‘I’ll be back next time, Mr. Tree, and you better not drop me again!’”

Harry laughed. “That’s adorable.” Hermione could feel his eyes on her which only intensified the blush on her cheeks. She just knew that her dad was going to embarrass her.

“I still think it was dumb, but you guys thought that everything she did was cute,” Emily said.

Hermione rolled her eyes. “I was eight.”

“You were both adorable at that age,” Helen said. “And you were both just as silly.”

Emily scoffed.

“The Mother’s Day party the two of you threw when you were six and Hermione was four is a good example,” Helen said. “You put aside your differences and decorated the house in Grange Hill colours thinking it was just so cool. Or I expect because Emily was so obsessed with that show back then.”

“I don’t remember that,” Hermione said. “I remember the show though. It was pretty good.”

“Yeah, it was,” Emily agreed. Then the two sisters glared at each other causing Helen to laugh at their silliness even when they agreed on something.

-:::-

After dinner, Hermione pulled her mother upstairs for a chat. One of the cameramen followed them up the stairs, which Hermione decided to protest. As a compromise, the producer -- who had been almost totally silent for the whole time -- had agreed to place the static camera in whatever room they chose. Hermione decided that was the best she was going to get. 

“So, how’s it really going?” Helen asked once the camera was placed and they reached Hermione’s old bedroom.

“It’s going great, actually,” Hermione responded after taking a seat on her old bed. She smoothed out the baby blue comforter and looked down at her fingers as they moved along the heavy fabric. “I think I’m in love with him.”

“So soon? That’s shocking.”

“Yeah. I mean, it’s been just a few days. How can I feel this way already? It makes no sense.”

“It’s not unusual in our family though,” Helen said as she took a seat beside Hermione.

“Grandma?”

“And your dad and I. I mean ours wasn’t love at first sight, but it was lust at first sight. After that first night together, though, I knew it would be love.”

“Oh, gross, Mum. Don’t talk about having sex with dad.”

Helen laughed. “Emily calls you a prude for a reason, you know.”

“I know. I can’t help it if I’m not as promiscuous as she is.”

“I didn’t say you had to be.” Helen sighed. “Are you sleeping with him yet?”

“No. We’ve kissed a lot though.”

“Good?”

“Fantastic,” Hermione answered dreamily. “Best ever.”

Helen laughed again and wrapped an arm around Hermione’s shoulders. “You know I wasn’t on board for this whole TV show marriage thing. I hated the idea of you wasting your time and your emotional well-being for the entertainment of others. But I saw the way you and Harry were looking at each other earlier at dinner, and I know the real thing when I see it. Don’t be scared of it just because it happened so fast. Embrace it and don’t waste time just because you’re afraid about what it all means.”

“Thank you, mum. That’s what I needed to hear. It’s all been so bloody confusing.”

“I know, love. But it looks like you’ve lucked out in the man lottery. I always knew you would.”

“Really? I thought you’d have expected Emily to be luckier in love.”

“No,” Helen snorted. “I love your sister dearly, but she’s never been able to sit still long enough to make a marriage work. Look how she keeps dragging that poor Anthony along by his nose. One day he’s going to get sick of it, break up with her for good, and then what will she have? Nothing but regrets. I hope that I’m wrong, but I don’t think I am.”

“I don’t think so either. I do want her to be happy, though.”

“Me too. Me too. Maybe she’ll see the light one day.”

“We could sign them both up for this stupid TV show,” Hermione said with a grin, pulling out of her mother’s embrace, causing them both to break out in hysterical laughter.

-:::-

Downstairs Harry was uncomfortable. He knew that his wife wanted to talk to her mum alone, which he didn’t have an issue with, but it left him alone with Hermione’s sister, which was awkward, to say the least. Harry wished Hermione’s father had accompanied them, but he was off taking care of dishes. At lelast there was a cameraman in the room. Not that that made the situation any less awkward. 

“She didn’t even tell you about me,” Emily said after they sat in silence for several moments.

“I’m sorry?”

“She didn’t even bother telling you that she had a sister, did she?”

“No, but it’s only been a few days, and I just kind of assumed that all of her closest family had come to the wedding, so I didn’t really ask.”

“Don’t blame yourself, Harry,” Emily said in resignation. “She doesn’t like me very much.”

“I don’t think that’s true,” Harry responded, defending his wife.

“It is. It’s always been true. Granted, I’ve not made it easy for her to like me at times, and I guess I still don’t. I always picked on her when we were younger. I was the pretty girl while Hermione didn’t grow into her beauty until we were teenagers. By then, I’m ashamed to say, I had managed to erode her self image so much that she still doesn’t think much of her looks.”

Harry didn’t know what to say about that, though he knew from talking to his wife that Emily wasn’t the only one who had bullied Hermione about her looks when she was younger.

“I regret it.”

“Have you told her that?” Harry asked. “It’s not any of my business really, but I know what it’s like to crave family around you, and I’d give almost anything to have a brother or a sister. Maybe you just need to take that first step.”

“Maybe.”

They sat in silence for a few minutes. They were soon joined by Robert.

“It was nice to see you again, Harry. I was so worried about all of this nonsense when it started, but it looks like it is really going well.”

“I think it is. I don’t know how it will end, but I’m not as worried about the outcome as I once was,” Harry said cautiously. “It’s odd that I’ve only known her for a few days but I feel like it has been so much longer.”

“Romances can be like that,” Robert said wisely.

Harry just nodded. He turned back to Emily as he heard footsteps on the stairs. “Give her a chance. You never know what might happen.”

Emily just nodded. Harry gave her a smile, then stood and walked towards the bottom of the stairs where he met his wife who was smiling and laughing with her mother.

“Oh, Harry. Are you ready to go, babe?”

“Yeah, it’s getting late. We should get back.”

Hermione nodded and then turned to her mother. “Dinner was delicious. Thanks for putting up with all this.”

“Of course, love. It was a grand experience.” Hermione kissed her mom on the cheek and then bounded over to say goodbye to her father and her sister.

“Thank you for dinner, Mrs. Granger.”

“Of course, Harry. Make sure you come back when you’re not obligated to. We have a lot more stories to tell.”

Harry laughed. “I look forward to hearing them.”

He followed Hermione’s mum into the living room where he spotted Emily and Hermione in a hug. He almost laughed at how uncomfortable Hermione looked. When they pulled apart, they were both blushing a bit, but Harry thought it was a good start.

“Thank you for having me, Mr. Granger. I had a great time.”

“You’re welcome, Lord Potter,” Robert said cheekily. “You should definitely come again. You’re our family now, so you’re always welcome.”

Harry blushed as he shook the man’s hand and gave him a polite nod. He hadn’t thought that he’d gained more family. It was a very nice thought.

On the way back to their flat, Harry said, “Your family is very nice.”

“Yeah.”

“You and Emily don’t get along?”

“Oh, God. What did she say to you?”

“Nothing bad. I just noticed that you both seemed very competitive.”

“You could say that again,” Hermione said. “We’ve almost always been that way. I guess it’s just the way sisters are sometimes. I love her, you know? But sometimes it’s not that easy to like her. She was pretty cruel to me when we were younger.”

“Is she still cruel?” Harry asked.

“No. Not really. Sometimes she’s snarky, but I don’t think she can help it. I guess I’m more of the aggressor these days.”

They were silent for several minutes, just watching as the cab traversed the streets of London.

“So your family is next week?” Hermione asked.

“Oh, yeah.” Harry grinned at her. “You think there’s drama at your house. Just wait until you get to know Sirius Black. His middle name is drama.”

Hermione laughed. “That’s such an odd middle name!”

Harry laughed along with her but was thinking,  _ Oh, just you wait, love. Just you wait. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And there we have another chapter. Emily won’t play a huge role in this story, but she’ll be around again in a couple of chapters. Next chapter we find out who Nikki is! I saw lots of guesses. 
> 
> Reviews feed the beast.


	8. Hardwin is a Stupid Name

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Harry has a secret to tell Hermione.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a.n. Here’s another chapter. Now that November is over, and NaNo is behind me, updates should be a bit more regular. I’ll be trying to go back to my once a month update schedule.
> 
> Thanks to Renny236 for being an awesome beta!  
> Also, any extraneous spaces here on AO3 are products of AO3. I can't get those to go away. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don’t own Harry Potter or Married at First Sight.

**Week 2 (Monday)**

Harry sighed as he looked down at his wife, curled up with her head on his chest. It was still fairly early, the sun only just having peaked through the curtains, and Harry decided he really didn’t want to move.

The last few days had been some of the best of his life. After the dinner with Hermione’s parents on Wednesday, they’d spent most of the time just hanging out. They’d been asked to do selfie stick vlogs a couple more times, and on Friday they’d been sat down in the ‘interview room’ where the producers asked them questions on camera.

_ Flashback _

_ Harry sat down in the cushy lounge chair and looked at the producer who was standing behind the camera. _

“ _ Okay, Lord Potter. This is fairly simple. We’ve got some questions for you based on things we’ve seen on camera at the flat and during your first two outings. Nothing too deep, just so we can get some commentary that isn’t off the cuff like the selfie sessions are. Understand?” _

_ Harry nodded nervously. It was a lot easier to ignore the cameras and lights when Hermione was at his side, but they’d been asked to do this separately, apparently to get more ‘honest’ answers. _

_ Soon the cameras were started and Harry was told to look directly into the lens instead of at the producer asking him questions. _

“ _ So, Lord Potter. Tell us what you’ve decided for your third outing this week.” _

“ _ Ah, we’re going to go bowling then we’ll go to dinner. Something simple and outdoors.” _

“ _ The two of you really seem to be hitting it off,” the producer said. “Are you surprised by that?” _

“ _ Yeah. I wasn’t really expecting to come here and fall in love.” Harry blushed. “But I have.” _

“ _ Are you going to tell her?” _

_ Harry laughed. “Not any time soon. I mean it’s only been a few days.” _

“ _ When are you going to tell her about Nikki?” _

_ Harry grimaced. Nikki was a sore subject. He knew deep down that not coming out and telling his new wife about Nikki was a mistake that could cost him. But how did you come out and tell your wife of a week – a wife who you barely knew, really – that you had a daughter? _

_ He shouldn’t have kept it to himself. Especially when he had come to acknowledge that he wanted this...odd marriage to last. _

“ _ I’m going to tell her before we go see Sirius on Tuesday.” Harry sighed. “I shouldn’t have kept it from her.” _

“ _ How do you think she’ll react?” _

_ Harry laughed bitterly. “She’ll probably never talk to me again. Why would she want to be saddled down with a single father? Especially one who has basically lied to her face?” _

_ End Flashback _

After that, the interview was basically meaningless. Harry was preoccupied and distant and uninterested in any of the mundane questions the producers threw at him.

The last two days he had tried to push his worries to the back of his mind, and he had mostly succeeded in focusing all of his attention on his wife. Harry had truly enjoyed every second he had spent with her while at the bowling alley on Saturday. Hermione, it turned out, was very much the most competitive person he had ever met. Given that Harry wasn’t someone who loved to lose, the night was spent poking at each other in jest as they competed to see who could knock down the most pins (Hermione had, but not by much).

Now it was Monday and it was time to come clean. It was also time to go back to their regular lives. With that thought, he shook Hermione’s shoulder.

“Wake up, love,” Harry whispered. Hermione shifted closer, grumbling a bit in her sleep. Soon though, she was opening her eyes and stretching alluringly against his body. Harry had to harness all of his will power not to pull her closer and ravage her right then. They still hadn’t had sex, but their make-out sessions were so intense that it was really only a matter of time.

“Morning,” Hermione mumbled.

“It’s eight,” Harry said. “We have just enough time to have some breakfast before we have to go.”

Hermione groaned but pulled back. She pecked him on the lips. “I’ll make breakfast this morning.”

“Okay. I’ll get ready and then come help.”

A half-hour later, Harry sat at the kitchen island beside Hermione who was reading a newspaper while cutting into an egg.

“It’s going to be odd going back,” Harry said.

“Yeah. No cameras, what did we ever do before this?” Hermione asked dryly.

Harry laughed. “What time will you be home?”

“Around six,” Hermione asked, her cheeks flushing a bit. Harry wondered what had caused her to blush, then he thought about his words.

_ Home. _

In the week they’d spent together, it really did feel like this was home. Or more accurately,  _ she _ was home.

Fuck, he was well and truly screwed.  _ Screwed, Potter, totally pantsed. _

“I’ll be home a little before that. I’ll take care of dinner. There’s something I need to talk to you about tonight.”

“Oh? Something bad?”

Harry sighed. “No. But something you need to know before we go to dinner at Grimmauld tomorrow.”

“Ooookay,” Hermione said, looking at him suspiciously. “That sounds ominous, but I guess I can wait.”

Harry stood and pressed a kiss against her mouth. He couldn’t keep himself from deepening it and holding her close.

He worried that it might be the last time that he would be able to kiss her, and that thought alone was breaking his heart.

-:::-

“So, are you going to tell me how it’s going?” Ginny asked after taking a sip of her tea. Hermione was sitting across from her long time best friend at a cafe down the street from the library. Ginny had asked to spend Hermione’s lunch hour together, and Hermione hadn’t been able to say no.

Hermione sighed. “It was going wonderfully until this morning.”

“Oh? Did he fart in bed or something?” The girls laughed.

“No. No, nothing like that. He has something to tell me, and it sounded really bad, but he’s not going to tell me until tonight, and honestly, it’s been bugging me all morning.”

Ginny nodded. “There’s nothing worse than being teased with something unknown, especially if you’re Hermione Granger.”

“True,” Hermione agreed, which made Ginny smirk.

“What do you think it is? Is he hiding some unnatural sexual fantasy? Those are always the good ones.”

“Gah, your mind is always in the gutter,” Hermione complained. “You’re a married woman, yet you think about sex more than some teenagers.”

Ginny shrugged. “I’m insatiable.”

“You’re something alright. Mostly a pain in my arse,” Hermione said with a laugh. “I don’t think it’s anything bad, what Harry has to tell me, I mean. He said it isn’t. But it was obviously bothering him, and that is a bit worrisome.”

“You really do care about him, don’t you?”

Hermione blushed. “I know it’s only been a week, but I love him. I really do. It’s so...I don’t know. It seems so stupid to be in love with a man I just met last week. I mean there are so many things I don’t know about him yet. So many habits he likely has that are just going to piss me off. Yet, I do love him. I’ve honestly never felt this way before, and I was sure Nick was the one I was going to be with forever. It’s just plain confusing. My heart says it’s love and I know it is, but my brain keeps telling me to slow down before I get hurt.”

“I think it’s romantic. I mean, do you know anyone else who fell in love at first sight?”

“No. That’s what makes it so crazy. Love at first sight is not a real thing,” Hermione said with a disbelieving shake of her head. “Of course something impossible would happen to me.”

“Are you going to stay married to him? I know it’s only been a week.”

“Yes. I mean unless something terrible happens, I really do want this to work.”

Ginny laughed delightedly. “Just a week ago, you were cursing my name for having gotten you into this. Now, you just must name your firstborn child after me.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Hermione grumbled. “Take credit. I knew you would.”

“Of course, I’m taking credit. Ms. Bookworm has finally found her man, and I’m the reason! Ha! We’ll be seventy years old and I’ll still be gloating!”

Hermione shook her head, trying to hide a smile. After all, Ginny had a good reason to gloat.

“So, is he any good in bed?” Ginny asked slyly.

Hermione just glared at her friend. She wouldn’t admit that she was really looking forward to finding out the answer to that question very soon. 

-:::-

That night Hermione flopped down on the couch in their flat with a heavy sigh. Being a librarian wasn’t a taxing occupation, not like, say, construction work or being a doctor, but still, she was exhausted. Maybe it was the fact that she’d been off for a whole week and getting back into the groove, as it were, was tiring. Or perhaps it was that for the first time in a week she’d been separated from her new husband.

Hermione grinned and looked towards the kitchen where Harry was moving around from pot to pot. Her husband had greeted her at the door, kissed her solidly on the mouth, and then shooed her deeper into the flat to relax. If she hadn’t already been in love with the man, she definitely was now. How could you not love a man who wanted to pamper you after a long day?

An hour later they were done with a delicious dinner of baked fish, baby potatoes, and carrots. After they’d finished eating Hermione had curled up with her feet on her husband’s lap, sipping a glass of red wine.

“So what was it that you wanted to tell me this morning,” Hermione asked. “I can’t deny that the curiosity has been killing me.”

Harry sighed. Hermione watched as he struggled with his words, which made her nervous. Maybe he was leaving the show? Did he already want a divorce? Was this all coming to an end so quickly?

The thought alone broke her heart.

“I haven’t been...completely honest with you, Hermione,” Harry said finally.

“Oh?” Hermione asked, wondering what he could have possibly lied about. Was he not really an Earl? She didn’t think he would lie about such a thing, but who knew? Not that it mattered to her at all. She didn’t care if he had a title or not. Or, maybe, his name wasn’t really Harry? Maybe it was Harrison or Harold or Hardwin. That would be a bit awkward, not having known her own husband’s name for a whole week, but she could get used to it.

“When you asked the other day if I’d ever had any serious relationships, I said no. That’s not...exactly true. I had one serious relationship before I met you. Kind of.”

“Oookay,” Hermione said. Maybe this wasn’t going to be so bad, Hardwin was a stupid name. She could deal with him not having wanted to talk about someone he had been in a serious relationship with as long as his name really wasn’t Hardwin. She sat up, taking her feet off of her husband’s lap. “Why did you lie?”

“It’s complicated, and I didn’t know how you would react. This is all so new, and honestly, I didn’t want to...I don’t know. I didn’t come into this thinking that I’d even like the woman I had married let alone...care for her so much so early on. I figured that I’d just spend eight weeks with some fame-hungry woman who I couldn’t stand, get a divorce and never see her again.

“But that didn’t happen. I have...feelings for you,” Harry blushed. Hermione could feel her own cheeks heating up. She hoped that it wasn’t just her imagination, but it felt like Harry was trying very hard not to say a certain four-letter word. That alone made butterflies swirl around her stomach. “I should have told you last week, but it felt like everything was going so well, and I didn’t want to ruin it.”

“Harry...A serious relationship isn’t anything to be ashamed of. And, while I don’t really understand why you felt you had to hide it from me, I’m not mad or anything. We both have pasts and things we probably don’t like talking about.”

“I...dammit. I’m messing this all up.” Hermione watched as Harry stood up and ran his hands through his hair. Then he looked down at her. “I have a daughter.”

Hermione could feel her mouth drop open in shock. She hadn’t been expecting that. Even her thoughts were scattered in her brain.

A daughter?

How had it not come up? Hermione would have thought that something like that would have been mentioned before they got married or at least right after.

But then she hadn’t actually asked him if he had children. Hermione had just assumed that he wasn’t a father.

“A daughter?” Hermione asked finally. “I don’t understand. Why didn’t you tell me?”

It hurt, honestly. As she thought more about it, the more it hurt that he had kept this from her. She was his wife. Wasn’t she? Didn’t that matter to him?

Harry flopped back down on the couch and sighed. “I should have. But honestly, it isn’t something I talk that much about.”

“The fact that you have a daughter is so shameful to you?” Hermione snapped out, anger finally pushing the hurt aside.

“No! No. It’s just that it’s not something great to talk about. I don’t get to see her that often.”

Hermione paused. “Why?”

“Her mother hates my guts. Apparently, I ruined her life. And now the best thing that she can do is keep Nikki away from me.”

“That...that’s awful. You had a serious relationship with her?”

Harry laughed. “No. I really did tell you the truth when I said I hadn’t been in a serious relationship, at least as you meant it. Mary is only a ‘serious’ relationship because we have a daughter together. We were only together for about a week.”

“A week?”

“Yeah,” Harry nodded. “More like a couple of one night stands. We met at a party. I didn’t think anything more about her until about a month later when she showed up at my house telling me I was going to be a father.”

“And she still won’t let you see your daughter?” Hermione’s anger was quickly draining from her. She could at least understand now why it was something painful for Harry to talk about. 

“I get her three or four days a month. She’ll actually be at Grimmauld when we go tomorrow, so you’ll get to meet her.”

“Is that why you told me now?” Hermione asked in a small voice. “Would you have told me if she wasn’t going to be there?”

“I would have told you anyway. I mean, you would meet her eventually, because I really want this to work.”

Hermione blushed and looked down. “I want this to work too.”

They were silent for several moments, both lost in their own thoughts. Hermione wondered if this changed anything. Did it change her feelings that she had developed so quickly? No, she didn’t think so. She looked over at Harry, who was staring off into the room, a blank expression on his face.

No. She still loved him - his having a daughter didn’t change that. Hermione wished that he had told her sooner, but then it had only been a week. And while they  _ were _ married, if their relationship had started out normally, and they had only been dating for a week, she wouldn’t have expected him to open up to her about such a painful topic so quickly. So really, Hermione decided, she had no reason to be angry.

“Tell me about her,” she said finally.

Harry grinned. “Nikki is awesome. She’s the smartest three year old you’ll ever meet. She knows more words than some of the undergrads I TA for, I swear. Not that that’s an accomplishment. Some of those freshmen are dumber than you can imagine.”

“Harry, be nice,” Hermione said with a laugh. He’d told her some about the class he was teaching this semester and the grief he’d been getting for being on the show from his freshman students.

“Nikki loves to be read to, we spend a lot of the time I get with her reading books. I think you’ll really love her,” Harry said with a fond smile. “She’s going to be just as much of a bookworm as you are. Then again, she does have two doctoral students for parents, so it’s not surprising that she’s smart. She also loves to hear about witches and wizards. I like to make up cool stories for her at bedtime, and it’s kind of become a thing. I bet she’ll get a real kick out of you being a writer. She’ll probably want you to write her a story.”

“I’m terrible at children’s stories,” Hermione said. “But I can’t wait to meet her. I’m sorry that you don’t get as much time with her as you’d like.”

Harry shrugged. “Mary’s not a terrible person or anything, and she is doing a good job with Nikki even though at the beginning I was really worried about it. Mary really resented getting pregnant. It just wasn’t in her plans.”

“Then why did she keep custody?” Hermione asked curiously. It seemed odd that someone who didn’t want to be a mother would be so adamant about having full custody.

“Her father is some billionaire, I never really paid much attention, but he insisted that she have Nikki and raise her as some sort of, I don’t know, penance for getting pregnant in the first place. Why the man didn’t want me a part of my daughter’s life, I don’t know. That might have been Mary’s doing, I’ve never been able to find out.”

“Sounds like a lot of drama.”

“It is. But I do what I can. I spoil Nikki rotten whenever I get the chance and I have people watching her to make sure Mary treats her right, though like I said, there haven’t been any problems so far.”

They were silent for a few more moments before Harry asked, “Are you mad at me?”

Hermione shook her head. “No. I admit I was pretty upset a few minutes ago, but I understand why this was painful for you to talk about. Are you keeping any more huge secrets from me?”

“No, I don’t think so. Nothing that I can think of anyways.”

“Well, then I’m okay. It’s a little weird, but I’ll get used to it. And I’m looking forward to meeting your little girl.”

“She’s going to love you.” Harry looked at her shyly. “Probably just as much as I do.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a.n.2. You didn’t think that this story was going to be without cliffhangers, did you? Every TV show ends with a cliffhanger.  
> For those of you who guessed that Nikki was Harry’s daughter, good job! I wish I hadn’t been so transparent. LOL.  
> Next chapter we meet Nikki, we get to know Sirius and Remus, and more!

**Author's Note:**

> a.n.2. We’re just going to have to pretend that the Earldom of Gryffindor is real. I thought about using an extinct earldom that actually once existed, but decided against it. Also for artistic license, we’ll pretend that an Earl would be allowed to get married on a TV show. It’s fiction, deal with it. 
> 
> Until next time.


End file.
